BRENTWOOD - A judge has tossed out statements a 4-year-old girl made to child advocacy workers about how her father allegedly abused and broke the bones of her infant brother.

The decision released yesterday comes a week before Gurrie Fandozzi, 41, formerly of Windham, heads to trial in Rockingham County Superior Court on charges he beat his infant son last summer, breaking two dozen of the baby's bones.

Judge Tina Nadeau ruled in favor of the defense on 11 of 16 motions filed last week.

Fandozzi is accused of breaking 24 bones in his infant son's body between June 21 and Aug. 2, 2006. Advocacy workers interviewed Fandozzi's daughter, then 3, shortly after her baby brother was hospitalized for a variety of injuries.

Nadeau ruled late yesterday that statements by Fandozzi's daughter were unreliable, mirroring an earlier ruling barring the girl from testifying in court.

Defense lawyer Steven Shadallah of Salem argued the daughter's statements should not be allowed as evidence - and the judge agreed. Prosecutors still might be able to make a case for allowing some of the statements during the trial, according to the decision.

The trial is expected to last more than a week and include testimony from doctors, experts, and relatives of Fandozzi and his wife, Tammy.

Prosecutors were hoping to describe Fandozzi as a stay-at-home father whose personality took a turn for the worse after the birth of his son, according to court documents. But people who might have testified to that effect won't be allowed to because of Nadeau's ruling.

And jurors won't learn about pornography on Fandozzi's computer or his disbarment as a lawyer in Connecticut before he and his wife moved to their Squire Armour Road home in Windham.

One state expert, Dr. Paul Kleinman, will not be allowed to tell jurors that the baby's injuries were among the "10 worst cases of child abuse" he has seen in his career. And another doctor is barred from telling the jury she works for the "child protection team" at a Boston hospital. Both statements could prejudice the jury, Nadeau wrote.

Shadallah didn't win all his requests. Prosecutors can present evidence that Fandozzi had a strained relationship with his wife and in-laws. Fandozzi's auto mechanic will be allowed to testify about how Fandozzi favored his daughter over his son, who acted "despondent and unresponsive" before being hospitalized.

Fandozzi faces 24 felony charges for each of his son's broken bones. If convicted, he could face seven and a half to 15 years in state prison on each charge. He remains free on bail.