Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, watched from her defense table while her attorney denounced accusations that she closed her court to death-row inmate Michael Wayne Richard as meritless and outrageous.

"Judge Keller didn't close the court to anybody," said Chip Babcock, Keller's attorney. "Michael Richard's lawyers never knocked on the right doors and they gave up."

Mocked as "Sharon Killer" by her detractors, Keller could be removed from the bench if the five judicial misconduct charges against her are upheld. At the heart of the charges is whether Keller denied Richard the ability to file a late appeal in the hours before his Sept. 25, 2007 execution.

Babcock's closing presentation, at times theatrical, was delivered as forcefully as Keller's unrepentant testimony earlier in the trial. He ended by going after those he said helped put the career of the state's highest criminal appeals judge in jeopardy: death-penalty critics.

In a decision released Thursday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Sincerely Yours Inc. in Manchester is not a classified post office and doesn't need to be regulated like one.

The business is a contract postal unit operated by the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church.

The court says only the postal counter, boxes and shelving units must be cleared of religious material. The court says "a visual cue" should distinguish the postal facility from the ministry space.

In 2003, a customer sued the U.S. Postal Service and the local postmaster. The customer claimed the religious signs, prayer cards and church-related videos constituted a government endorsement of religion.

Kevin Lamson argued he was wrongfully discharged from Crater Lake Motors in Medford after he told his bosses he wanted no part of a sales campaign that he believed included deceptive ads and sales practices.

Lamson sued the dealership and won in trial court, but the Oregon Supreme Court reversed the decision. It said in a unanimous opinion Thursday that there was no evidence to support Lamson's claim he was fired for reporting the practices.

He had been at the dealership for 15 years when Crater Lake Motors contracted with another company, Real Performance Marketing, to hold a special weeklong sales event for used cars.

Lamson said he observed sales tactics he believed to be unethical and illegal, including "payment packing" by inflating monthly payments with life insurance and service contracts without the customer's knowledge.

When the dealership decided to hold a second sales event with the same company, Lamson complained to upper management in person and in two letters.

Judge Richard Holwell in Manhattan concluded in a decision released Tuesday that Congress did not intend for a federal court to hear a dispute over the mortgage lender's promise to buy back modified loans from investors. He returned the case to state court.

Holwell wrote that it was tempting to find federal jurisdiction every time a multibillion dollar case with national implications arrives at the court's doorstep. But he said the decision is ultimately left up to Congress.

Holders of mortgage-backed securities sued Countrywide in December. Shirley Norton, a spokeswoman for Bank of America Corp., Countrywide's parent company, said the company will appeal the decision.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law amounted to unconstitutional meddling in U.S. foreign policy.

It based its 2-1 ruling on a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down another California law designed to help Holocaust survivors collect on Nazi-era insurance policies.

The federal government does not recognize the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide, but the California Legislature did in 2000 when it enacted the disputed law.

About half of the people of Armenian descent living in this country reside in California.

Lawyer Brian Kabateck, who represents Armenian-American heirs, plans to appeal.

"The ruling is wrong. It's a disaster," Kabateck said. "The one million Armenians that live in California today have been told by the court that even the use of the word 'genocide' by a government is illegal."

Prosecutors have charged the 20-year-old man accused of attacking Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett Saturday night with first-degree reckless injury, theft, disorderly conduct and bail jumping.


According to the criminal complaint, Barrett and his family members were walking on West Orchard Street from the State Fair to their car when they encountered Anthony Peters trying to get his 1-year-old daughter from her grandmother.

The grandmother was screaming for someone to call 911.

The mayor went to call 911 and when he did, Peters became "irate and charged" Barrett, demanding he hang up the phone.

According to Barrett's niece, Moira Flood, Peters then approached the mayor, swatted the phone from his hand and punched him twice in the face and once in the stomach. Barrett punched Peters in the face.

According to the complaint, Peters then pulled out a club or a baton out of his pocket and continued to threaten to kill Barrett and then struck him in the face and head with the club. After Barrett fell to the ground, Peters continued to hit him with the club. Flood told police Peters struck Barrett about six times while he was on the ground.

Flood then called 911 and Peters ran, according to the complaint.

Peters is currently in the Milwaukee County Jail. A public defender was appointed to his case Thursday morning.