SYRACUSE AP) - Prosecutors have dropped their plans to use a videotaped conversation between a woman and her former husband as evidence when she stands trial for murder in the 1980 death of her infant son.

Shirley Winters appeared in Onondaga County Court Tuesday for an evidence-suppression hearing, but the session was canceled when Assistant District Attorney Tamara Thomson said the prosecution was withdrawing its plan to use the videotape.

The tape was made at the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department earlier this year when Winters was there for questioning about the November 1980 death of her 5-month-old son, Ronald Winters III.

Winters was charged in September for a second time with second-degree murder. Hon. Joseph Fahey dismissed the original charge in June after ruling that the grand jury hearing the case was tainted by improper testimony from the county medical examiner.

She is scheduled to stand trial March 31.

Winters was charged with murder after authorities exhumed the remains of the baby and two of his siblings. The baby's death was originally blamed on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The two siblings died in a suspicious 1979 fire in Jefferson County.

Authorities have not said what was in the taped conversation. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick has said only that it included comments that could be interpreted as admissions. Thomson offered no explanation in court for the prosecution's decision not to use the statement.

Defense lawyer Ken Moynihan said he believed prosecutors were most interested in using a part of the tape with Winters saying she was sorry for what the family was going through. She made no admission about doing anything to the baby, he said.

"It's a long interview at the sheriff's department where he (Winters' former husband, Ronald) is trying to get her to confess, but she doesn't," Moynihan said.

Winters is also charged with second-degree murder in St. Lawrence County for killing 2-year-old Ryan Rivers, whose body was found in a bathtub at his grandparents' home in November 2006. Winters was living with the family at the time.

Investigators renewed their interest in the deaths of the Winters children after the Rivers drowning. Winters remains under investigation in Jefferson County for the 1979 fire.

Since 1979, Winters has been linked to 17 fires at homes where she lived or the homes of family members. She was convicted of arson in 1997 and served eight years in state prison for burning down her late mother's home.