A man who authorities say had a cache of weapons and a map of an Army base in a New Jersey motel room is due in court on Friday.

Lloyd Woodson was arrested Monday after a convenience store clerk in Branchburg called police to report he was acting strangely.

Police say Woodson was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an assault rifle. Officers found weapons including a grenade launcher and a map of New York's Fort Drum in his motel room.

Woodson is charged with state and federal weapons violations.

Authorities have not said whether they think he was planning an attack. The FBI said Woodson has no known terrorist connections.

The wife of a former high-ranked Bush administration lawyer who was charged earlier this month with her attempted murder has brought a civil suit against him for $30 million.

As previously reported, John Michael Farren is accused of flying into a rage after his wife served him with divorce papers on January 6, beating her unconscious with a metal flashlight, and then attempting to strangle her. She fled to a neighbor's house with their seven-year-old and four-month-old after triggering an alarm which brought the police to arrest Mr. Farren.

In her affidavit, Mary Farren makes some unusual arguments for why she not only needs $30 million but needs it right now, prior to any judgment in her case and before her husband can use any of the couple's assets to post his $2 million bond.

The Missouri Supreme Court overturned a death penalty sentence for man who is mentally retarded. Andrew Lyons, 52, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death for the 1992 killing of his estranged girlfriend.

Lyons filed a petition in mandamus, claiming to be mentally retarded and therefore ineligible to be executed.

A court-appointed master supported Lyons' claims. The master concluded that Lyons' IQ was in a range of 61 to 70, that Lyons had continual extensive related deficits in two adaptive behaviors, and that the symptoms were present and documented before Lyons had turned 18.

"Although there is evidence, as noted earlier, that Lyons manifested these conditions before age 18, the state contends there was insufficient documentation of these conditions," the court wrote in a unanimous opinion.

"The state vigorously notes the lack of an IQ test result from prior to age 18 and the scant school records and other evidence with respect to the adaptive behaviors.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of an Alabama man who claimed his attorneys failed to present key evidence of his borderline mental retardation. The justices said the defense made a strategic decision, not a negligent omission.

Holly Wood shot and killed his ex-girlfriend as she slept in her Troy, Ala., home in 1993. Wood lost his appeal in state court, but won habeas relief in federal court. The district court criticized the defense for putting an inexperienced attorney in charge of the penalty phase. According to the federal judge, the state court's holdings constituted "an unreasonable application of federal law."

It ordered the state to either resentence Wood to life without parole or conduct a new sentencing hearing.The Supreme Court upheld the 11th Circuit's reversal, saying it wasn't "unreasonable" to conclude that Wood's attorneys had made a strategic decision not to introduce evidence of Wood's mental deficiencies.
   
"Most of the evidence Wood highlights ... speaks not to whether counsel made a strategic decision, but rather to whether counsel's judgment was reasonable - a question we do not reach," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the 7-2 majority.