A state appeals court says San Francisco cannot be held responsible for the deaths of a father and two sons allegedly killed by a man who had been protected by the city's sanctuary policy.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the court ruled Monday that the city isn't liable for crimes committed by the alleged gunman, Edwin Ramos, who is a suspected illegal immigrant from El Salvador. The decision upholds a February 2010 court decision.

Police believe Ramos mistook Tony Bologna and his sons, Michael and Matthew, for gang members and then fatally shot them near their San Francisco home in June 2008.

Relatives say the victims might be alive if Ramos had been turned over to immigration authorities after earlier arrests when he was a juvenile.

A former Connecticut securities broker faces sentencing for stealing more than $1.35 million from his clients.

Gregory Buchholz of Bridgewater is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in federal court in Bridgeport. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

Prosecutors say the 45-year-old Buchholz liquidated clients' annuities and mutual funds and kept the proceeds while working at Raymond James Financial Services.

They say he forged clients' names, claimed he was reinvesting their money or told other lies to placate them.

Attorney Thomas Seigel has said Buchholz deeply regrets his actions. Seigel and prosecutors emphasized that Raymond James was not implicated, immediately fired Buchholz and is reimbursing investors.

The state Supreme Court's conservative and liberal factions are set to clash over travel reimbursements and court finances.

The court's seven justices are set to meet on Monday morning. On the agenda is Justice Pat Roggensack's request for state reimbursement for traveling around the state for a personal project and questions about why Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson hired two executive assistants when the court's budget calls for one.

Roggensack says her project on racial disparities in sentencing falls is both personal and court related. Abrahamson contends the two assistants split their time.

Tensions have run high on the court since conservative-leaning justices gained a majority in 2008, leaving liberal-leaning Abrahamson and another justice in the minority.

The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Thursday to question star pitcher Roger Clemens about his knowledge of a potential conflict of interest his attorney may have involving former teammate-turned-prosecution-witness Andy Pettitte.

Prosecutors filed a memo suggesting questions U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton should pose to Clemens and his attorneys at a hearing on the matter next Wednesday in federal court in Washington.

They say the judge should ask the seven-time Cy Young Award winner if he understands that lawyer Rusty Hardin has a potential conflict because he briefly advised Pettitte shortly before the release of a report in December 2007 that said both players had used human growth hormone. Prosecutors also want to make sure that Clemens' attorneys have not revealed to him any information regarding their representation of his former teammate and asked the judge to ensure that Clemens still wants Hardin and his Houston-based firm to represent him.

Clemens denies that he used any performance-enhancing drugs. Pettitte has admitted that he did and said Clemens admitted privately to him that he did as well.

A company asked by Visa to investigate WikiLeaks' finances found no proof the group's fundraising arm is breaking the law in its home base of Iceland. But Visa Europe Ltd. said Wednesday it would continue blocking donations to the secret-spilling site until it completes its own investigation. Company spokeswoman Amanda Kamin said she couldn't say when Visa's inquiry, now stretching into its eighth week, would be finished.

Visa was one of several American companies that cut its ties with WikiLeaks after it began publishing a massive trove of secret U.S. diplomatic memos late last year. U.S. officials have accused the site of putting its national security at risk -- a claim WikiLeaks says is an attempt to distract from the memos' embarrassing content.

When it announced its decision to suspend WikiLeaks donations on Dec. 8, Visa said it was awaiting an investigation into "the nature of its business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules" -- though it did not go into details.

The Norway-based financial services company Teller AS, which Visa ordered to look into WikiLeaks and its fundraising body, the Sunshine Press, found no proof of any wrongdoing.

The Supreme Court has reinstated a $625,000 judgment against Ohio prison officials who did nothing to prevent a guard's sexual assault of an inmate and then punished the victim.

The justices unanimously agreed Monday that a federal appeals court was wrong to throw out the award to Michelle Ortiz. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had "no warrant" to override the jury's verdict.

Ortiz was serving 12 months at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in November 2002 when she reported that a male guard fondled her breasts and warned, "I'll get you tomorrow, watch." He did, returning when Ortiz was asleep to molest her again.