An al-Qaida sleeper agent is expected in federal court in Illinois for a sentencing hearing that could have far-reaching effects.

Ali al-Marri, a 44-year-old native of Qatar, pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

His two-day sentencing hearing begins Wednesday in Peoria.

His attorneys say the judge should consider the five years al-Marri spent locked up without charge, much of it in a U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina. Prosecutors have recommended 15 years behind bars.

The U.S. still holds more than 200 people without charge at Guantanamo Bay. If convicted, they also could argue that their time as detainees should be considered at sentencing.

A Jordanian man accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper with what he thought was a car bomb pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Monday.

Hosam Maher Smadi, 19, told the judge "I'm not guilty on both counts" before she formally asked for his plea on one count of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of bombing a public place.

U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn set a trial date of Dec. 7. But Smadi's court-appointed attorneys said they plan to ask that the trial begin sometime after March.

During the hearing, a court interpreter stood next to Smadi, speaking softly in Arabic. The teenager told the judge he studied English while attending a Baptist school in Jordan and understood some of what was said in court. Smadi, who wore an orange prison-issued jumpsuit, also said he had an 11th-grade education.

Authorities arrested Smadi on Sept. 24 after he allegedly parked a truck in a garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place office building in downtown Dallas. Once he was at a safe distance, Smadi dialed a cell phone he thought would ignite a bomb in the vehicle — but the device was actually a decoy provided by FBI agents posing as al-Qaida operatives, according to the FBI.

The FBI says it had been keeping tabs on Smadi after discovering him on an extremist Web site earlier this year. Investigators have said the teenager acted alone and was not affiliated with any terrorist organizations.

A man who sneaked a bag of his feces into a San Diego courtroom during his home-invasion robbery trial, smeared it on his lawyer and threw it at jurors has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.

Superior Court Judge Frank Brown on Monday sentenced Weusi McGowan for robbery, burglary and two assault charges stemming from the feces-flinging incident during his January trial.

McGowan, who attorneys say suffers from mental illness, had asked for a mistrial because he believed jurors had seen him in restraints when he entered the courtroom.

Several days after his request was denied, McGowan pulled out a bag of excrement he had hidden in his clothing, rubbed it on his lawyer and tossed it at the jury, hitting one juror's computer case.

Court records show a former government scientist accused of attempted espionage last week pleaded guilty earlier this year to overbilling NASA and the Department of Defense more than $265,000 for contracting work.

The January plea by 52-year-old Stewart Nozette of Chevy Chase, Md., was detailed in court records unsealed Friday. The records state the documents were sealed because Nozette was cooperating in unrelated government corruption investigations.

Nozette was arrested last week and accused of selling sensitive government secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence operative.

The unsealed court documents say Nozette pleaded guilty in January to overbilling the government between 2000 and 2006 and spending the money on personal bills and maintaining his swimming pool.

In Minnesota, bong water can count as an illegal drug.

That decision from Minnesota's Supreme Court on Thursday raises the threat of longer sentences for drug smokers in that state who fail to dump the water out of bong — a type of water pipe often used to smoke drugs

The court said a person can be prosecuted for a first-degree drug crime for 25 grams or more of bong water that tests positive for a controlled substance.

Lower courts had held that bong water is drug paraphernalia. Possession of that is a misdemeanor crime.

The case involved a woman whose bong had about 2 1/2 tablespoons of liquid that tested positive for methamphetamine. A narcotics officer had testified that drug users sometimes keep bong water to drink or inject later.

Three once-powerful members of Mexico's Arellano Felix drug cartel have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in San Diego.

Jorge Aureliano Felix admitted Wednesday to working with members of the Tijuana-based cartel to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds back to Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney's office says Armando Martinez Duarte pleaded guilty Friday. Efrain Perez pleaded guilty Monday.

The defendants were arrested in Mexico between 2002 and 2004 and extradited in late 2008. A 2003 federal indictment calls them "second-level managers" of the cartel.

Last week, Jesus "Chuy" Labra, pleaded guilty in the same case. He was a top cartel leader until his arrest in 2000.