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.

Georgia's top court has ruled in favor of a former Atlanta police officer who sought immunity after being charged with murder in a shooting of a 19-year-old who was killed while the officer was investigating a report of a vehicle break-in.

The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld by a 6-1 decision a lower court ruling in favor of former officer Raymond Bunn, who claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot 19-year-old Corey Ward in a parking lot in 2002.

Bunn contended that Ward was driving the SUV straight at him when Bunn shot at the window, hitting Ward twice in the left side of his head.

Prosecutors said Bunn was not directly in front of the vehicle, which belonged to Ward's mother, when he fired.

The Supreme Court majority ruled that the preponderance of evidence favored Bunn's story, despite conflicting evidence.

The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding later this month whether it wants to get involved in a Georgia death penalty case that involves a murder suspect who says he was in jail for two years without an attorney.

It's the latest test for Georgia's justice system, which has come under scrutiny in recent years. The state's new public defender program has had funding trouble ever since the $3 million Atlanta courthouse shootings trial and the Georgia Supreme Court has been criticized for not reviewing death penalty appeals closely enough.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide after a closed-door conference Sept. 27 whether it wants to intervene in Jaime Ryan Weis' case. He is accused of killing a 73-year-old woman.

A Florida man known for his sports-related philanthropy pleaded guilty Wednesday to running a multistate Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say left investors with up to $100 million in losses.

Nevin Shapiro pleaded guilty in New Jersey federal court to one count of securities fraud and one count of money laundering as part of an agreement that still has him facing up to 17 years in prison at his Jan. 4 sentencing.

Prosecutors say 41-year-old Shapiro of Miami Beach, used a Florida-based company called Capitol Investments, USA, Inc., to raise nearly $900 million from investors who thought they were buying into a wholesale grocery distribution business.

Charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission claim Shapiro promised investors risk-free annual returns as high as 26 percent by persuading them to invest in a "grocery diversion" enterprise — a practice of buying low-cost groceries in one region of the country and reselling them in higher-priced markets.

Shapiro allegedly siphoned at least $35 million of the proceeds for personal use, including $23 million for salaries and commissions for himself, $5 million for a Miami Beach mansion and $400,000 for courtside Miami Heat basketball tickets. He also spent lavishly on luxury cars, a high-stakes gambling habit, and a pair of diamond-studded handcuffs given to an unnamed prominent athlete, according to court documents.

An appeals court overturned the conviction of a woman found guilty of helping with a notorious 2001 ecoterror attack that destroyed a university research center, concluding the judge made mistakes that cast doubt on the fairness of her trial.

Briana Waters, 34, was convicted of serving as a lookout during the Earth Liberation Front attack on the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle and was sentenced to six years in prison plus $6 million in restitution.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the late U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess made several errors that raised questions about the fairness of her trial.

Waters' lawyer, Dennis Riordan, of San Francisco, said he was delighted and would move quickly to have her released pending another trial, if prosecutors decide to pursue one. Being imprisoned in Danbury, Conn., far from her young daughter, has been difficult, he said.