The Supreme Court appears unlikely to rule that delinquent parents must be given a lawyer before judges can jail them for not paying child support.

Several justices said Wednesday they were troubled by the case of a South Carolina father who was repeatedly jailed even though he insisted he could not afford payments of $50 a week. But the court sounded reluctant about extending the right to a taxpayer-provided lawyer that exists in criminal cases to civil proceedings where a person faces jail time.

Justice Elena Kagan was among those who wondered whether there are procedures short of a court-appointed lawyer that would give a "person in this situation a fair shake at this."

New York's top court will hear arguments whether a New York Police Department sergeant's failure to get statements from two witnesses to a stabbing in a Times Square theater means a man's assault conviction should be overturned.

The trial judge refused to let defense lawyers cross-examine the sergeant about the unknown bystanders, who he overheard saying the injured man pulled the knife — not suspect Kenneth Hayes — but did not question because he was busy securing the scene.

The judge also ruled the police failure to get their contact information didn't violate the Brady requirement that prosecutors disclose information to the defense that could prove their client innocent.

A midlevel court divided 3-2 in rejecting Hayes' appeal.

He was also found guilty of weapon possession in the scuffle with Charles Shell, although Hayes claimed self-defense.

It's been seven years since 13 southern Illinois water districts sued the makers of a farm herbicide, yet the case languishes in Madison County Circuit Court.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that Judge Bill Mudge is the seventh to preside over the case.

The Holiday Shores Sanitary District was one of the water districts suing Syngenta, maker of atrazine. The herbicide is used on corn and grain grown in the United States and allegedly costs water districts millions of dollars for its removal from drinking water.

Attorney Steve Tillery says the districts want Syngenta to help pay for filtration, estimated at about $400 million a year.

New York's top court will decide whether a convicted sex offender's return home constitutes child neglect by him and his wife even though there was no evidence he did anything inappropriate with his children.

The Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments Tuesday in the case of a Poughkeepsie couple identified as Grace and James C. He pleaded guilty in Manhattan to patronizing a 17-year-old prostitute and raping a 14-year-old girl, spent a year in jail and went home as a registered sex offender to his wife, four sons and daughter in 2007.

Dutchess County social workers alleged neglect on his part for returning and his failure to participate in treatment and by the mother for letting him return.

A Family Court judge agreed. A midlevel court reversed, finding no showing of "actual danger" to their children.

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld an earlier ruling by three of its members that a law making it illegal to lie about being a military hero violates free speech.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision strikes down the so-called Stolen Valor Act passed by Congress in 2006.

It also vacates a judgment and fines leveled against Xavier Alvarez, of Pomona, Calif., a water district board member who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. Alvarez had never served in Marines or in any other branch of the armed forces, according to the court ruling.

Alvarez was indicted in 2007. He pleaded guilty on condition that he would be allowed to appeal on First Amendment grounds. He was sentenced under the Stolen Valor Act to more than 400 hours of community service at a veterans hospital and fined $5,000.

Making lies of that sort would implicate "the JDater who falsely claims he's Jewish or the dentist who assures you it won't hurt a bit," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote. "Phrases such as 'I'm working late tonight, hunny,' 'I got stuck in traffic' and 'I didn't inhale' could all be made into crimes," Kozinski wrote in denying a full-court re-hearing of the case.