A court has overturned a decision granting a new trial to a convicted rapist who claimed his rights were violated when a poem written by the victim was kept out of evidence during trial in Wayne County.

The poem expressing regret about alcohol and sex was written before the woman's encounter with Dustin Wiecek in 1999.

A federal judge says the exclusion hurt Wiecek's ability to fully confront his accuser at trial about her personal life. But a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday disagreed, saying Wiecek's lawyer had much opportunity to challenge the woman's credibility.

Wiecek was accused of using GHB, known as a date-rape drug. He's already served 41 months in prison, more than the minimum sentence. He's been free on bond since fall 2009.

The Michigan Supreme Court says it will decide if judges can order a sewer system when septic tanks fail and spoil a lake.

The court says Thursday it will take an appeal in a case involving Worth Township along Lake Huron in Michigan's Thumb region. State regulators want the township to install a sewer system, but an appeals court said local government isn't responsible for the problems of private property owners.

Some septic systems are failing on a five-mile stretch between M-25 and Lake Huron in Sanilac County. Waste is being discharged into Lake Huron and its tributaries.

Worth Township says it can't build a sewer system without financial help from the state.

A Bronxville, N.Y.-based broadcasting company is buying a struggling affiliate of the ABC broadcast network in Rhode Island for $4 million.

A Superior Court judge in Providence approved the bid by Citadel Communications LLC to buy WLNE-TV on Tuesday because it was the only bidder that had struck an affiliation agreement with ABC. The station's expired affiliate agreement had been extended to April 1.

Court-appointed receiver Matthew McGowan says the deal with ABC was decisive because ABC could yank its signal. Three bidders who had not reached a deal with ABC were required to put the money upfront and competitively bid for the station, but they declined to do so.

Global paid $14 million for WLNE-TV in 2007. The firm went into receivership in 2010. Owner Kevin O'Brien did not respond to a call for comment.

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.