A state appeals court has overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of raping his underage sister-in-law in Queens.

Luis Gomez has served nearly four years of a nine-year prison term for rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

The four-judge panel said the trial judge should have let jurors hear the testimony of a married couple who said the girl told them she made up the story.

Gomez was convicted of sexually abusing the girl for five years, starting when she was 9. Prosecutors say they intend to retry Gomez.

Herman Michels, a noted lawyer and the former presiding judge for administration of New Jersey's appellate courts division, has died. He was 83.

Michels death on Friday was announced by Gibbons PC, where he served as the law firm's counsel. The firm — which has offices in New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia and Delaware — did not disclose further details, including a cause of death.

The Short Hills resident was appointed to the bench in 1972. He was assigned to the appellate division two years later and became its presiding judge in 1980. He was named as the division's presiding judge for administration in 1985 and served until his retirement in September 1997.

During his time on the bench, Michels wrote more than 3,000 appellate division opinions, including 400 which were published. He was a graduate of Rutgers Law School.

After retiring as a judge, Michels spent more than 10 years with the Gibbons firm, serving as an arbitrator or mediator for hundreds of legal matters. He also was a past chairman of New Jersey's state ethics commission.

"The Judiciary has lost a great champion of the courts and the rule of law," said New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner. "For those with whom he served, it was an honor to have worked with a truly great man and mentor.

The Supreme Court will join Congress and the president next year in cutting costs to reduce the federal deficit, Chief Justice John Roberts said Friday in his year-end report.

Roberts asked the court's staff to cut unnecessary expenses and improve operations to save money.

"As a result of those efforts, and notwithstanding increases in operating costs owing to inflation, the court expects to voluntarily reduce its fiscal year 2012 appropriations request to less than its fiscal year 2011 request. Not many other federal government entities can say that," Roberts said.

The federal judiciary is not a large part of federal spending — "less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the federal budget for one of the three constitutional branches of government," Roberts said.

"But the courts are committed to working closely with the president and Congress to shoulder our share of the burdens of reducing the federal deficit," the chief justice said. "We will strive to reduce costs where possible, but we ask in return that our coordinate branches of government continue to provide the financial resources that the courts must have to carry out their vital mission."

The other federal courts are also striving to save money, Roberts said. "Those initiatives include focused efforts to reduce judicial costs through more efficient use of office space, information technology and support personnel," he said.

The judiciary will reduce by 60 percent its request for new court staff in the next budget year, Roberts said.

Roberts also called on Republicans and Democrats to find a long-term solution to selecting federal judges, blaming both sides for the political blockage of judicial nominations in the Senate.

The Nevada Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a group that tried to pass a constitutional ban on abortions this year because the election is over.

The court ruled in a decision filed Thursday that Personhood Nevada's fight to rewrite the state constitution was moot because the group failed to secure the necessary signatures to put its question on the 2010 ballot.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Personhood Nevada wants voters to replace the word "person" in the Nevada Constitution with the term "human being." The group says life starts at conception.

But opponents said the ballot language was vague and contained more than one subject in violation of Nevada's election laws. A district court agreed and shot down the proposed petition.

A Florida grandmother injured in a fall aboard the Battleship New Jersey cannot sue its operators for damages, an appellate court has ruled.

The panel said the Home Port Alliance – which runs the ship as a museum and memorial on the Camden waterfront – has charitable immunity as a nonprofit educational facility. That protects charities from lawsuits when the injured person benefits “to whatever degree” from the nonprofit’s activities.

Patricia Zavilla broke her right knee when she fell on some stairs while touring the ship with her husband and young grandson in April 2008.

Zavilla claimed she was there only as a tourist and wasn’t part of the community that benefits from the group’s charitable work since she lives out of state.

The court, however, found Zavilla was giving a self-guided tour that “advanced (the Alliance’s) goal” of educating the public about the battleship’s history.

An Iowa couple cannot have access to their adult child's physical and mental health records after being denied visitation with their grandson, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court issued its ruling in the Plymouth County case between Jerry and Susan Ashenfelter and their daughter, Amy Mulligan. The Ashenfelters sought their daughter's records after she decided it was in her 6-year-old son's best interest not to have contact with them.

A district court ordered Mulligan to produce her physical and mental health records to her parents, because the Ashenfelters had to prove their daughter was unfit to make a decision regarding grandparent visitation.

Mulligan appealed and the Supreme Court reversed the district court's decision, deciding that the records were protected by Mulligan's constitutional right to privacy.

"The district court abused its discretion in ordering Amy to produce her medical and mental health records to the Ashenfelters," the court wrote.

The high court's ruling refers to the Ashenfelters' request for a 2008 commitment court file, notes, records and reports from counseling sessions at a sexual assault and domestic violence center but does not elaborate. But no commitment file existed because Mulligan was hospitalized voluntarily, the court said.