Chief Justice John Roberts has sold his shares of Pfizer Inc., a move that allows him to participate in two pending Supreme Court cases involving the pharmaceutical maker.

Federal law requires judges to sit out cases if they own even a single share of stock in any of the parties to a lawsuit. In the past, Roberts has not taken part in cases involving Pfizer because he owned less than $15,000 of the company's stock, according to his latest report of personal finances, which covered 2009.

But when the court announced Tuesday that it had accepted an appeal from several drug makers, including Pfizer, in a dispute over prices charged public hospitals, there was no indication that Roberts would step down from hearing the case.

Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg confirmed that the chief justice sold his Pfizer shares in August.

As a result, he also will sit with his colleagues when they hear arguments Oct. 12 in another case involving childhood vaccines. Roberts played no role when the court decided in March to hear the case.

Arberg offered no explanation for Roberts' decision to sell the stock now, but it appears likely that Justice Elena Kagan's need to sit out the two cases played a role in Roberts' timing.

Kagan, who joined the court in August, owns no stock in Pfizer, but was involved in the two cases at some point during her time at the Justice Department as President Barack Obama's solicitor general.

The Supreme Court is getting involved in an unusual freedom of information dispute over whether corporations may assert personal privacy interests to prevent the government from releasing documents about them.

The court on Tuesday agreed to a request from the Obama administration to take up a case involving claims made by telecommunications giant AT&T to keep secret the information gathered by the Federal Communications Commission during an investigation.

The administration wants the high court to rule that corporations may not claim a personal privacy exception contained in the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The exception may be used only by individuals, the administration said in a brief signed by Elena Kagan, the newest justice who served in the Justice Department until last month.

Kagan will not take part in the case, which will be argued early next year.

AT&T wants the FCC to keep secret all the information it gathered from the company during an investigation into its participation in the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries get Internet access.

The FCC had released some of the information under an open records request, but withheld some, citing FOIA exemptions that cover trade secrets and humans' right to privacy.

A death row inmate has asked a federal appeals court to halt his execution and has refused to choose a method of lethal injection.

Lawyers for Albert Greenwood Brown filed court papers Sunday saying he is appealing a federal court judge's refusal to block his execution, which is scheduled for Wednesday. Brown also declined to choose between a one-drug lethal injection or execution by a three-drug cocktail.

Brown's refusal to choose means a three-drug cocktail will be used if the appeals court doesn't block California's first execution in nearly five years.

Brown also plans Monday to ask a Marin County Superior Court judge to block his execution while a recently filed lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection regulations is pending.

A suspect in the execution-style killings of three college students in a New Jersey schoolyard in 2007 pleaded guilty Tuesday, days before his trial was set to begin.

Melvin Jovel, 21, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and weapons charges in the Newark attacks.

Prosecutors said Jovel and five other young men lined up Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and 18-year-old Terrance Aeriel, against a schoolyard wall and shot each of them in the back of the head.

A fourth victim, who survived, testified at the first trial in the case that she was sexually assaulted, slashed with a machete and shot in the head. She is not being identified by The Associated Press because of the sexual assault charge.

"With this guilty plea today, the victim and the surviving family members are spared one trial and Mr. Jovel will spend the rest of his life behind bars," said Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas McTigue. "We can now move on with the prosecution of the remaining cases."

The Connecticut judge presiding at the trial of a man charged in a deadly home invasion remains hospitalized, but a hospital spokesman says his condition has been upgraded to good from fair.

Yale-New Haven Hospital spokesman Mark D'Antonio told The Associated Press that Judge Jon Blue remained at the hospital Monday morning. D'Antonio would not disclose Blue's ailment and says it's not clear when the judge will be discharged.

The trial of Steven Hayes began last week and was supposed to resume Monday morning in New Haven Superior Court. It has been postponed until Wednesday.

Hayes and another man are charged in the killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her 11- and 17-year-old daughters at their Cheshire home in 2007. They face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.

Toyota Motor Corp. has settled a lawsuit brought by relatives of four family members killed in a high-speed crash near San Diego that galvanized attention around safety flaws of Toyotas and led to the recalls of millions of cars.

A Toyota spokesman confirmed the settlement Saturday in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. It was first reported on the Los Angeles Times' Web site Friday night. The company would not specify the settlement's terms.

The Times said Toyota is expected to file motions with the judge disclosing the settlement on Monday. Court filings indicate the two parties reached a settlement in June.

Tim Pestotnik, an attorney for the plaintiffs including the parents of the three adult victims, declined comment when reached by the Times.

The settlement left out one co-defendant -- Bob Baker Lexus, the dealer that loaned the family the car.