Supreme Court justices on Tuesday indicated that a federal law aimed at graphic videos of dog fights and other acts of animal cruelty goes too far in limiting free speech rights.

The court heard argument on the Obama administration's appeal to reinstate a 10-year-old law that bans the production and sale of the videos. A federal appeals court struck down the law and invalidated the conviction of Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Va., who was sentenced to three years in prison for videos he made about pit bull fights.

Several justices suggested that the law is too broad and could apply, for instance, to people who make films about hunting.

"Why not do a simpler thing?" Justice Stephen Breyer asked an administration lawyer. "Ask Congress to write a statute that actually aims at the frightful things they were trying to prohibit."

But the lawyer, Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, said Congress was careful to exempt hunting, educational, journalistic and other depictions from the law. Katyal urged the justices not to wipe away the law in its entirety, but to allow courts to decide on a case-by-case basis whether videos are prohibited.

When Congress passed the law and then-President Bill Clinton signed it in 1999, lawmakers were especially interested in limiting Internet sales of so-called crush videos, which appeal to a certain sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or high-heeled shoes.

A former Yale University lab technician charged with strangling a graduate student and stuffing her body behind a laboratory wall appeared in court Tuesday, but did not enter a plea to murder.

Twenty-four-year-old Raymond Clark III appeared in an orange jumpsuit in New Haven Superior Court. He's accused of strangling 24-year-old Annie Le (LAY') of Placerville, Calif. His lawyers say he eventually will plead not guilty.

The judge scheduled a probable cause hearing for Oct. 20, in which sides will have the right to introduce evidence and call witnesses. Under Connecticut law, defendants accused of murder have the right to the hearing within 60 days of their arrest to decide if the case will go forward.

The judge said he will also consider at that hearing whether to extend a sealing order on the police arrest affidavit in the case.

Le was a pharmacology graduate student who vanished Sept. 8 from a Yale medical lab building. Her body was found in the building five days later, on what was supposed to have been her wedding day.

Police have not talked about a motive in the slaying, largely because Clark has not talked to authorities. Investigators and Yale officials have called Le's death a case of workplace violence, but have not elaborated.

The Supreme Court has left in place a court ruling that the Obama administration says will cost taxpayers at least $19 billion in royalties on energy leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

The justices declined Monday to hear the government's appeal of a ruling in favor of the Anadarko Petroleum Corp. involving eight deepwater leases the company holds in the gulf. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that the Interior Department could not collect royalties from the leases, even as oil prices rose and companies began posting huge profits.

The leases were obtained between 1996 and 2000 by Kerr-McGee Corp., which Anadarko later acquired.

The case revolves around a 1995 law that gave oil and natural gas producers a break from paying royalties at a time when energy prices were extremely low. The law waived all royalty payments until a specific amount of oil and gas was produced.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan told the court that the Interior Department has the authority to lift the royalty relief once prices reach a certain level.

The ruling could affect other leases and prohibit the government from collecting royalties from other producers.

A federal appeals court has halted the execution of a man who strangled his 67-year-old neighbor, citing last month's failed attempt to execute another inmate in Ohio.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Monday to delay the execution of 43-year-old Lawrence Reynolds until a federal judge has time to hear arguments over problems with the Sept. 15 injection process. Reynolds had been scheduled to die Thursday.

Gov. Ted Strickland stopped the planned execution of Romell Broom after executioners tried for two hours to find a usable vein.

Broom's execution also is on hold while his attorneys prepare for a federal court hearing Nov. 30. They argue that an unprecedented second execution attempt on Broom violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio's appeal of his insider trading conviction.

The court said Monday it would not entertain Nacchio's request that he either be acquitted of the charge or granted a new trial.

Prosecutors said Nacchio sold $52 million worth of stock in 2001 while knowing that Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. would have trouble meeting its sales goals. Nacchio began serving a six-year sentence on April 14.

He contended the jury was given improper instructions about what internal information had to be disclosed publicly. He also argued that the trial judge improperly barred testimony from an expert who could have explained Nacchio's trading patterns.

A Miami law firm allegedly helped jailed financier R. Allen Stanford establish an unregulated money pipeline to Antigua, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

The newspaper said in 1998 the firm of Greenberg Traurig helped Stanford, who is charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, in create a pipeline between Miami and Antigua that became a cornerstone of Stanford's banking empire. That relationship has reportedly been targeted by a court-appointed receiver that is trying to recover money for Stanford's alleged victims.

The Herald said Greenberg Traurig helped Stanford set up a special trust office in Miami that could move millions of dollars overseas without having to report anything to the government.

The firm also allegedly helped Stanford institute changes in Antigua's banking system after a series of money laundering scandals prompted the U.S. Treasury to consider blacklisting all offshore institutions in the Caribbean island, officials say.