The case of a New York man accused of killing his wife and incinerating her in an oil drum is going back to court.

Opening arguments in the retrial of Werner Lippe of Cortlandt, N.Y., are set for Monday at the Westchester County Courthouse.

Lippe confessed three times to killing his wife Faith. He later recanted and insisted during his trial last winter that he last saw her being driven away from their home in October 2008.

Prosecutors never found a body or any trace of one. They alleged that Lippe, a jeweler, burned his wife in a backyard oil drum — which was not recovered. They said he could have used the acids he kept in his home workshop to get rid of bones and teeth.

A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a woman and her 11-year-old son.

Polish national Krystian Krysztof Rozek, 27, admitted killing Monika Wasko, 29, and her son Patryk in a knife attack at their home in Cae Hir, Flint, North Wales, where he had been lodging.

Rozek pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mrs Wasko's husband Rafael, an official from Caernarfon Crown Court said.

Mrs Wasko died at the scene and Patryk died at Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool three days after the multiple stabbing. Paramedics arrived at the scene in the early hours of July 11.

A York County IT consultant and a Maryland executive have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and criminal forfeiture, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Donald J. Cochran Jr., 44, of New Park and David B. Bossi, 43, of Phoenix, Md., conspired to defraud Adecco S.A. out of nearly $1.5 million, a news release stated.

Adecco S.A. is a Global Fortune 500 company with a domestic headquarters in Mellville, N.Y.

Between 2003 and 2006, Bossi worked as vice president for Ajilon Consulting, an Adecco subsidiary, police said. In 2006, he was responsible for the reviewing and approving of all Data Center Consolidation Project invoices, which entailed a relocation to North Carolina.

Cochran was the owner of Information Technology consulting firms -- Technology Products and Services and Information Technology Management Systems -- headquartered in York County.

Cochran submitted about 64 false invoices between August 2007 and August 2008 for equipment and services that were never provided to Adecco on the DCC Project, police said.

A man convicted of murder after three bloodhounds allegedly matched his scent to the victim should be set free because the evidence against him was not legally sufficient, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The court acquitted Richard Winfrey Sr., reversing his 2007 conviction in the murder of high school janitor Murray Burr in the small town of Coldspring, about 60 miles north of Houston.

Under the ruling, prosecutors will not be allowed to retry the case.

Winfrey remained in state prison Wednesday. His attorney, Shirley Baccus-Lobel, said she planned to immediately file a motion for his release with the state appeals court. It is possible he could be freed by Friday, his 57th birthday.

"We thank God first and then Shirley second," said Vicky Winfrey-Daffern, the defendant's sister. "We are so overjoyed. Everybody's turning flips."

The main evidence against Winfrey in the 2004 murder was a positive scent identification from three bloodhounds named Quincy, James Bond and Clue. The dogs belong to former Fort Bend Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett, who retired earlier this year after being targeted by the Innocence Project of Texas, a group that claims the ex-lawman passes off junk science as legitimate investigative techniques.

Pikett is a defendant in at least three lawsuits from men saying they were wrongly jailed after his dogs linked them to crimes they did not commit. He did not return a message left by The Associated Press.

Florida's strict ban on adoption by gay people is unconstitutional because no other group, even people with criminal backgrounds, are singled out for a flat prohibition by state law, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeal upholds a 2008 decision by a Miami-Dade County judge who found "no rational basis" for the ban when she approved the adoption of two young brothers by Martin Gill and his male partner. The prohibition was first enacted in 1977 and is the only law of its kind in the nation, according to court records.

In a 28-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the court noted that gay people are permitted to become foster parents or legal guardians in Florida, yet are the only group not allowed to adopt.

"It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on those same persons," wrote Judge Gerald Cope for the panel. "All other persons are eligible to be considered case-by-case to be adoptive parents."

The decision is likely to be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which could then determine the ultimate fate of the law. "We note that our ruling is unlikely to be the last word," the appeals panel said.

The ruling came in an appeal of the 2008 decision by the state Department of Children & Families, which had urged the judges to consider evidence of what it said were risk factors among potential gay parents. These factors, according to attorneys for the department, included more sexual activity by children of gay parents and more incidents of teasing and bullying suffered by children from gay households.

The man accused of killing a North Carolina police chief's daughter is expected in an upstate New York courtroom where he will be arraigned as a fugitive from justice.

Police say Michael Neal Harvey killed 23-year-old Valerie Hamilton last week and dumped her body in a self-storage unit.

A team of state, local and federal officers arrested the convicted sex offender on Monday at a home in Niagara Falls, where he was raised.

The 34-year-old Harvey was expected to appear Tuesday morning in Niagara County Court in nearby Lockport. The appearance was postponed until Tuesday afternoon because paperwork was unfinished.

He was wanted on a murder warrant after Hamilton's body was found Saturday in a Charlotte, N.C., self-storage unit.

She was the daughter of Concord, N.C., police Chief Merl Hamilton. Her funeral is being held Tuesday afternoon at a Concord church.