James Ford Seale, 73, had spent just over a year in prison after being convicted in June 2007 on kidnapping and conspiracy charges related to the abductions of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee.

Authorities said the two 19-year-old friends were beaten by Klansmen and thrown, possibly still alive, into a muddy backwater of the Mississippi River amid rumors that black residents were planning an uprising.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found late Tuesday that the statute of limitations for kidnapping had expired in the four decades between Seale's alleged crime and the federal charges.

Seale was charged after Moore's brother, who was working on a film about the killings, found him in south Mississippi in 2005. The case, which took a backseat to the high-profile search for three civil rights workers who also disappeared in Mississippi that summer, had been cold for years. Many thought Seale was dead.

Thomas Moore said Wednesday he believes the conviction was overturned on a technicality.

"He is not innocent. The community knows it. The world knows it," Moore said. "We are just in the third inning of a nine-inning ball game ... It's not over with."

Matt Steffey, a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law, said federal prosecutors could ask the full appeals court to review the ruling, but it's unlikely the unanimous decision would be overturned.

Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass said she was confident neither person has been influenced by the contact.

It was unclear if the person actually represented a media outlet. Court officials were reviewing videotapes from the courthouse in an attempt to identify the man who contacted the two people after court adjourned Tuesday.

Court information officer Michael Sommermeyer said any media contact with jurors would be a violation of a court order and punishable with a contempt of court finding or confiscation of press credentials.

"The court and the judge are attempting to do everything in their power to empanel a jury that's as unbiased as humanly possible and not tainted by any outside influence," Sommermeyer said.

He said the two people refused to be interviewed and reported the alleged contact to the judge on Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers are vying for an edge as they try to shape a jury that will decide whether Simpson and a buddy robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a casino hotel room a year ago.

Twenty people have been dismissed after two days of questioning. No jurors have been seated. Twelve people have advanced through personal questioning by both sides to remain in consideration.

The suit stems from the brief use of his late father's voice in a show about a John Madden video game. Facenda's contract barred commercial use of his deep, solemn voice for product endorsements.

The NFL contends the show was an artistic endeavor. But the three-judge panel ruled Tuesday the show is clearly a commercial. The program aired on the NFL Network just before the game's release.

The suit by John "Jack" Facenda Jr. now appears headed to trial unless the NFL pursues further appeals.

The settlement amount was listed at $7.2 billion, a sum that has been accruing interest since 2002 and includes $688 million plus interest in attorneys fees.

The deal, approved late Monday by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon, and the attorneys fees are the largest in history in a U.S. securities fraud case.

"We're pleased that the court recognizes the tremendous amount of work, skill and determination required to overcome significant obstacles in this complicated case," said Patrick Coughlin, attorney for the regents of the University of California, the lead plaintiffs.

About 1.5 million individuals and entities will be eligible to share in the distribution under the settlement plan. The attorneys fees will go to San Diego-based Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, the law firm representing the university.

Besides the University of California, other plaintiffs who will share in the proceeds include pension plans from New York City and Hawaii, various investment firms and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

The distribution plan was part of a $40 billion lawsuit filed by shareholders and investors, who claim Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and others participated in the accounting fraud that led to Enron's downfall.

Calculating shares of the $7.2 billion will be determined by a formula that factors in such things as the stock's purchase price and the type of stock bought.

At its height, Enron's common stock sold for as much as $90 per share, before plummeting to as low as $1 right before the company declared bankruptcy.

Under the plan, investors will get an average of $6.79 per share of common stock and an average of $168.50 per share of preferred stock.

To be eligible for the settlement, investors and shareholders needed to have bought Enron or Enron-related securities between Sept. 9, 1997 and Dec. 2, 2001.

Attorneys for several investors objected to the distribution plan and the attorneys fees.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who had previously filed court briefs in support of plaintiffs' claims, also objected to the attorneys fees.

"General Abbott continues to object to giving millions of dollars to plaintiff lawyers when that money should go to the hardworking men and women who suffered from Enron's demise," said Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for Abbott's office.

"This court reiterates that there is no way to allocate these proceeds that would not in some way favor or disfavor to some degree some of the class members," Harmon wrote in her order. "On the whole, the court finds that ... the chosen method is fair, adequate and reasonable."

Harmon also said the attorneys fees, which are 9.5 percent of the settlement, are "fair and reasonable."

Several financial institutions have not settled and remain as defendants in the Enron case, including Merrill Lynch & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston and Barclays Bank PLC. Several former Enron officers also remain as defendants, including former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, now serving a criminal sentence of more than 24 years in federal prison in Minnesota.

But the lawsuit has been on hold since an appeals court last year ruled shareholders and investors could not sue as a class, which would have allowed them to sue as a group and have more leverage to settle the case out of court.

The U.S. Supreme Court in January refused to hear arguments in the lawsuit. The high court in a similar case gave a measure of protection from securities lawsuits to suppliers, banks, accountants and law firms that do business with corporations engaging in securities fraud.

Because of that ruling, Harmon is still deciding whether the financial institutions that remain as defendants will be dismissed from the lawsuit.

Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company, entered bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001 after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable.

The collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

Enron founder Kenneth Lay and Skilling were convicted in 2006 for their roles in the company's collapse. Lay's convictions for conspiracy, fraud and other charges were wiped out after he died of heart disease in 2006.

George Banks, 66, is psychotic and unable to comprehend his sentence or participate in his defense, making him incompetent to be put to death, Judge Michael Conahan said.

Banks, whose victims included five of his own children, "has a hopeless prognosis and will not improve to any acceptable degree," the judge said.

Defense experts testified at a hearing last month that Banks believes his sentence has been vacated by God or Jesus, that he is no longer under the threat of death, and that he is being held in prison as part of a conspiracy to get him to renounce his religious beliefs.

Defense attorney Al Flora said Monday that prosecutors should stop their decades-long pursuit of the death penalty for Banks, saying it is no longer worth the time and expense.

"I think it's about time that this community really gets beyond the George Banks case," Flora said. "The man is dying in isolation. He's severely mentally ill, and I think each day he's tormented by his own mind."

Prosecutors said they have no intention of dropping the case.

Assistant District Attorney Scott Gartley said that even though Banks is mentally ill, he "comprehends the reason for his sentence and its implications" and thus meets the legal standard for execution. He said the district attorney's office will appeal the ruling.

Banks, a former prison guard, picked up a semiautomatic rifle on Sept. 25, 1982, and began shooting at two houses in Wilkes-Barre and nearby Jenkins Township. He killed a total of seven children; his three live-in girlfriends; an ex-girlfriend; her mother; and a bystander in the street.

Banks, who is biracial, has maintained that he shot his children to spare them the racial prejudice he endured in Wilkes-Barre, a city 100 miles north of Philadelphia. Prosecutors noted his history of abusing women and said he had been involved in a nasty custody battle with one of the victims.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court halted Banks' execution in December 2004 and ordered a hearing to determine Banks' mental competency.

Conahan ruled in early 2006 that Banks couldn't be put to death, but the state Supreme Court ordered a fresh hearing to determine Banks' mental state after finding that the judge improperly barred a prosecution psychiatrist from testifying.

County officials say the trucks, many of which have become the equivalent of neighborhood restaurants, are a nuisance, parking at the same spot every day and bringing in noise and traffic. Operators respond that they meet the same health standards as restaurants and are being unfairly targeted because of organized political pressure from restaurateurs.

At stake is unfettered access to cheap, to-go Mexican food like carnitas, quesadillas and carne asada tacos that are cooked to order and served from literally thousands of elaborate restaurant-trucks that dot the business streets in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, particularly in largely Hispanic East Los Angeles, where trucks can be found on almost every block.

"All there is to say right now is that we have filed a motion for reconsideration, requesting that the court reconsider its previous ruling," said Deputy District Attorney Steven Gates. He declined to discuss the basis of Monday's appeal but said the county requested a hearing Sept. 19.