Thirteen Somalis and a man from Yemen pleaded not guilty to piracy, kidnapping and firearms charges Tuesday in the February hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead.

They entered their pleas in federal court in Norfolk, where five other men convicted of piracy in a separate case last year had been sentenced to life in prison a day earlier.

"There's nothing I know about these charges. I do not admit that I was a pirate," Mohamud Salad Ali said through an interpreter Tuesday.

Each of the men requested a jury trial and all were ordered to remain jailed until then by Magistrate Judge Tommy Miller, who said they are a threat to society and a flight risk.

A trial has been set for May 17, although prosecutors want it pushed back because trying such cases is complicated.

Pirates have rarely been charged in the U.S. The case against the five Somalis sentenced Monday for attacking the USS Nicholas was the first to go to trial since the Civil War, when a New York jury deadlocked on charges against 13 Southern privateers.

An attorney from Kansas faces up to 10 years in federal prison over a $2.5 million Ponzi investment scam in Texas.

Prosecutors say 62-year-old Clifford Roth of Leawood, Kan., pleaded guilty in Beaumont to interstate transportation of money taken by fraud.

No sentencing date was announced Monday for Roth, who remains free on bond.

Prosecutors say Roth in November 2007 traveled to Southeast Texas and solicited investors to purchase bank holding company stock. Roth falsely claimed the money would be used to purchase an Oklahoma bank, which would then open a branch office in Beaumont.

The FBI determined that the investor funds were used for Roth's personal expenses, plus paid previous investors in the Ponzi scheme.

A mayor in Utah says misdemeanor charges against the police chief appear to stem from a dog slaying last summer.

Parowan Mayor Donald Landes tells the Deseret News of Salt Lake City he believes the charges against Chief Preston Griffiths related to the shooting last July.

Griffiths was served Friday with a summons to appear March 22 in 5th District Court in Iron County on official misconduct and obstruction of justice charges. The case is being handled by Millard County prosecutors.

The 43-year-old Griffiths has been police chief since July 2003. The mayor says he's still on the job.

Griffiths hasn't commented on the charges.

Parowan animal control policies have been a hot topic since a resident shot two dogs he said were harassing his sheep in January 2010.

The South Dakota Supreme Court will hold its March sessions at the University of South Dakota Law School.

The high court will hear oral arguments in three cases each day on March 21, 22 and 23.

Justices traditionally hold 1 of their spring terms at the school in Vermillion.

Arguments are open to the public.

Court will open at 9 a.m., and cases will commence on the hour.

The North Carolina Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case that could change how the death penalty is administered.

Lawyers for five death row inmates are preparing to argue Monday that an administrative law judge was right to order state officials to revamp North Carolina's protocol for executions in 2007.

The Council of State has to approve changes to death penalty procedures and argues the judge doesn't have the jurisdiction to make that order. A Superior Court judge sided with the council.

The inmates' lawyers say the council signed off on changes to capital punishment protocol without hearing from advocates for condemned prisoners.

If the Supreme Court agrees, the case will go back to a lower court for review.

The U.S. government claims a one-time billionaire wanted an edge in the trading of stocks for his hedge funds and was willing to break the law to get it.

The trial resumes Monday in Manhattan federal court for Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam (rah-juh-RUHT'-nuhm.)

He's the only one of more than two dozen people charged in the insider trading crackdown to face trial. Nineteen have pleaded guilty.

The government alleges Rajaratnam earned more than $50 million illegally by trading on inside information since 2003.

His lawyer, John Dowd, says Rajaratnam had the best research in the business and did not need to trade illegally. Rajaratnam has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud charges.