The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Charles Patton, who was convicted and sentenced to 44 years in prison on drug charges. He appealed his conviction, saying that jurors weren't questioned by his trial judge on whether they had any bias against firearms. Patton had a loaded firearm when he was arrested.

The Illinois Appellate Court threw out the appeal, saying the judge did not have to ask about potential firearm bias on his own.

The competency hearing was scheduled after Hayes attempted to kill himself on January 30.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky for the murders and sexual assaults of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley. Dr. William Petit survived the home invasion attack.

If Hayes, 46, is allowed to plead guilty, under Connecticut law a jury or a three-judge panel would determine his sentence.

The high court on Monday turned away an appeal from Homaidan Al-Turki. He was convicted of false imprisonment, conspiracy, criminal extortion, theft and unlawful sexual contact.

Al-Turki was convicted of sexually abusing his Indonesian housekeeper and paying her less than $2 per day.

He complained that he wasn't allowed to question a potential juror about potential anti-Muslim sentiment.

But online auction site operator eBay won significant victories in rulings by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said it did not engage in trademark infringement or trademark dilution in its use of jeweler Tiffany & Co.'s trademarks. Those rulings upheld the findings of a lower court judge.

Tiffany sued eBay in 2004, saying eBay engaged in trademark infringement, trademark dilution and false advertising because most items that sellers list for sale as genuine Tiffany products on its sites were fakes.

The appeals court left in place a finding by the lower court that eBay did not violate false advertising laws but returned the case to the judge to consider that issue again.

The three-judge panel said in its written ruling that it had difficulty with the lower court's reliance in its ruling on eBay's assertions that it did not know which listings offered counterfeit Tiffany goods. The 2nd Circuit noted that eBay advertised the goods sold through its site as Tiffany merchandise.

A filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court charges the officer, Michael Hunter, 33, of Slidell, with one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of misprision of a felony.

The charges are part of a deal under which Hunter has agreed to help in the investigation of a cover-up after police shot six people — killing two — at the Danziger Bridge in September 2005, according to the person familiar with the case, who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hunter is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on April 7. He faces a possible maximum sentence of eight years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Townsend Myers, a lawyer for Hunter, wouldn't immediately comment.

Hunter remains on the force, but he is assigned to desk duty. Police spokesman Bob Young said Tuesday that Hunter was expected to resign before pleading guilty.

Michael Lohman, a retired lieutenant, and Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former detective, earlier pleaded guilty to participating in the cover-up.

Atlanta law firm King & Spalding LLP has won a $700 million judgment for Chevron Corp. in an arbitration between the energy giant and the government of Ecuador.

An international tribunal ruled that Ecuador must pay damages for delaying court rulings on commercial disputes with Chevron subsidiary Texaco Petroleum Co. for more than a decade.

The ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague resolves some Texaco claims against the Ecuador government dating as far back as 1991.

The court determined that by refusing to rule on Texaco's claims, Ecuador violated international law by breaching an investment treaty with the United States.

The $700 million in damages includes principal and interest dating to Dec. 22, 2006, when Chevron and Texaco initially filed the arbitration. Further hearings will determine whether Ecuador owes more for taxes, interest and costs.

Chevron and other energy companies have additional arbitration actions pending against the Ecuador government.