Texas' highest criminal court has thrown out the 25-year prison sentence a Houston jury gave a woman convicted of murder for stabbing her tied-up husband 193 times.

Susan Wright was convicted in March 2004 of killing her 34-year-old husband, Jeffrey Wright. His body was found buried in the yard behind their Harris County home.

Susan Wright, a former topless dancer, contended she acted in self-defense after years of abuse.

In a ruling Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says her lawyers were deficient during the punishment phase of the trial.

An attorney for Wright did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

It's an expensive lesson on the importance of reading your mail.

A Wisconsin judge has ordered PepsiCo Inc to pay $1.26 billion to two men who said it stole their idea to sell purified water after a secretary mislaid a document alerting the world's No. 2 soft drink maker the lawsuit existed.

The case was reported earlier on Wednesday by The National Law Journal. The judgment amount is equal to more than 20 percent of PepsiCo's reported annual profits in recent years, regulatory filings show.

According to filings with the Jefferson County Circuit Court, Charles Joyce and James Voigt won the September 30 judgment five months after first suing PepsiCo and two distributors.

The Wisconsin men said they talked with the distributors in 1981 about their idea to bottle and sell purified water and that PepsiCo later stole the idea by creating Aquafina.

The complaint was filed on April 28, but PepsiCo said the legal department at its Purchase, New York headquarters was not alerted to the case until around September 18, when secretary Kathy Henry received a letter for her supervisor Tom Tamoney.

Henry, however, put the letter aside and did not tell anyone about it or enter it into her log "because she was so busy preparing for a board meeting," according to PepsiCo's October 13 motion asking the court not to enforce the judgment.

The highest court in Massachusetts is scrutinizing the jury selection process in the trial of a once-prominent doctor who is serving a life sentence in the 1999 killing of his wife.

The Supreme Judicial Court has ordered Judge Paul Chernoff to answer questions about jury selection during the 2001 trial of Dr. Dirk Greineder, an allergist from Wellesley who was convicted of beating his wife, Mabel, with a hammer and slitting her throat.

Greineder's lawyers argue that the jury selection process was closed, violating Greineder's right to a public trial, and are asking for a new trial.

The SJC is asking whether any members of the public were present in the courtroom during questioning of potential jurors and whether Greineder or his lawyer agreed to closed-door proceedings.

A powerful business group that spent millions of dollars to help elect two Wisconsin Supreme Court justices is proposing a rule that would allow them to hear its cases.

The court will consider the rule proposed by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce during a public hearing Wednesday. Under the proposal, judges would not be required to step aside from cases involving groups or individuals no matter how much they spent to help their campaigns.

The rule would have immediate ramifications for two justices, Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman, who were backed by WMC when elected to the court in 2007 and 2008. The group spent an estimated $2.2 million advocating for Ziegler and $1.76 million for Gableman, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks campaign spending.

The proposal comes as the state high court is considering whether to write specific rules for when judges must recuse themselves in cases involving campaign supporters. Current rules are silent on the issue but advise judges to step aside when a reasonable observer would question their impartiality.

An al-Qaida sleeper agent is expected in federal court in Illinois for a sentencing hearing that could have far-reaching effects.

Ali al-Marri, a 44-year-old native of Qatar, pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

His two-day sentencing hearing begins Wednesday in Peoria.

His attorneys say the judge should consider the five years al-Marri spent locked up without charge, much of it in a U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina. Prosecutors have recommended 15 years behind bars.

The U.S. still holds more than 200 people without charge at Guantanamo Bay. If convicted, they also could argue that their time as detainees should be considered at sentencing.

Michigan's bipartisan State Board of Education urged Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers to find money to reduce cuts in public education and buy time for a long-term funding solution.

The 8-0 vote on Monday came after a series of blows delivered to public schools last week.

Democratic governor signed an education budget that contains a cut of $165 per student. But she also vetoed $51 million in extra funds for 39 wealthier districts and ordered another $127 per-pupil cut for all districts because of falling tax revenue.

The reductions will take effect unless more money is raised within a month.

The board heard from superintendents, former legislators and others in the public. Yet it was the testimony of three economic experts that prompted optimism that money for schools could be found if the political will existed.

The experts, who have different political backgrounds, agreed Michigan should lower its 6 percent sales tax but tax services that are exempt now — such as entertainment and landscaping, for example. Business-to-business services such as accounting and engineering would not be taxed.