A divided Virginia Court of Appeals panel granted Dustin Turner's request for a writ of actual innocence, vacating his conviction of murder and abduction with intent to defile in the 1995 death of 21-year-old Emory University student Jennifer Evans.

Turner is the first person in Virginia to get a murder conviction overturned under a 2004 law that allows nonbiological evidence of innocence to be considered more than 21 days after sentencing.

Turner, 34, of Bloomington, Ind., is serving an 82-year sentence for killing Evans in his parked car outside a Virginia Beach nightclub in 1995. Another trainee, Billy Joe Brown, changed his story to say that he alone killed Evans.

"While Turner's conduct creates a suspicion of guilt, the evidence, viewed in the context of Brown's recantation, cannot support findings of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," the ruling stated.

The Attorney General's Office has two weeks to ask for the full court to make a decision or a month to appeal the ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court. If the attorney general does not protest the ruling, Turner would be released from Powhatan Correctional Center.

Turner's attorney and mother said they were cautiously optimistic about Tuesday's ruling.

"We're very pleased, and we like our chances moving forward, but at this point we're not exactly sure what forward will be," Turner's attorney David Hargett said.

David Clementson, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said only that officials there are reviewing the opinion.

In a letter made public Monday, the high court said it now supports the preservation of as many as 6,500 juvenile court records that contain evidence of the scandal in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The court's decision will make it easier for youths to pursue federal claims against former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella, who was charged earlier this year with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to put juvenile offenders in privately owned detention centers.

The records' preservation will "ensure that the whole story of what we think is probably the largest judicial corruption scandal in the history of the country to be told and to be understood," said Marsha Levick, legal director of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which represents some of the youths.

The Supreme Court's reversal apparently puts an end to a dispute in which Levick and other attorneys had accused the justices of sabotaging plaintiffs' ability to recover damages from Ciavarella in federal court.

About 400 individuals ranging from their teens to their early 20s have sued Ciavarella, claiming he ran a kangaroo court in which he systemically denied them their constitutional rights, including the right to counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Other defendants include former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan and Luzerne County taxpayers.

Everyone seemingly got some tangible benefit — except for nearly all of the 1 million consumers covered by the class action lawsuit filed in their name. None of the consumers got money, only discount coupons toward new Ford purchases. Few used them.

The practice of settling class action lawsuits by doling out discount coupons rather than cash has come under fire from tort reform activists and others who complain that such lawsuits mainly benefit the lawyers — and even the companies being sued — at the expense of their clients.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge David De Alba authorized the settlement of a class action that lawyers argued could be worth as much as $500 million to people who owned Ford Explorers during the 1990s.

In exchange for dropping the lawsuit that alleged rollover problems unfairly diminished the resale value of Explorers, Ford customers could receive a $500 discount coupon toward the purchase of a new SUV or a $300 coupon to buy another Ford vehicle. Consumers had until April 29, 2008 to apply for the coupons.

De Alba awarded the lawyers $25 million in fees and expenses after presiding over a 50-day trial without a jury in 2007. The case settled before the judge reached a verdict.

Simpson and convicted co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart won't be in a Las Vegas courtroom Monday for the 30-minute sessions allotted to their lawyers before a trio of justices from the state's only appellate court. Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who prosecuted the pair, will argue against release.

The justices won't make an immediate decision, but it is rare for the state high court to hear oral arguments on bond and even more rare to grant release.

Simpson, 62, is serving nine to 33 years for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon in the September 2007 confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room. Stewart, 55, is serving 7 1/2 to 27 years.

Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter has said Simpson won't flee if he's released, poses no danger to the community and will comply with any conditions the high court sets.

"C.J. is hopeful the court will take a look at the record and see that there are multiple issues on appeal that should get him a new trial," said Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson.

Bryson argues that Stewart, a former mortgage broker from North Las Vegas, should have been tried separately from Simpson, an NFL Hall-of-Famer, television star and celebrity criminal defendant acquitted in the 1994 slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles.

Galanter and Bryson said a favorable ruling from the court would signal how justices feel about their overall appeals, which are unlikely to be decided for at least a year.

Trina Thompson filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. The 27-year-old is seeking the $70,000 she spent on tuition.

Thompson says she's been unable to find gainful employment since she received her information technology degree in April.

She says the Bronx school's Office of Career Advancement hasn't provided her with the leads and career advice it promises.

Monroe College spokesman Gary Axelbank says Thompson's lawsuit is completely without merit.

The college insists it helps its graduates find jobs.

At a hearing Friday, prosecutors told D.C. Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Alprin that they have provided more than 5,000 pages of evidence to attorneys for Ingmar Guandique (gwan-DEE'-kay.)

Chandra Levy had just completed a U.S. Bureau of Prisons internship when she disappeared in 2001 after leaving her apartment in jogging clothes. Her remains were found a year later in a Washington park.

Defense attorneys say they need to interview at least 10 other possible suspects. They asked to push back the January trial date, but Alprin refused.

Guandique's lawyers have said the case against him is flawed. He was charged in the killing earlier this year.