The Washington state woman who falsely claimed a stranger threw acid in her face is due in court in what will be her first public appearance since she held a hospital press conference nearly a month ago with her head swathed in bandages.

Bethany Storro of Vancouver is expected to plead not guilty Wednesday to three theft charges.

Deputy Prosecutor Tony Golik says she accepted donations for help with facial burns she suffered Aug. 30. Police say she later admitted putting drain cleaner on her face.

Her lawyer expects Storro will be released after a brief appearance in Clark County Superior Court.

Court records indicate Storro spent about $1,500 of the nearly $28,000 donated. Storro's parents have said the money will be returned.

A judge has ordered an attorney for one of two Connecticut men charged with killing a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion to explain why he shouldn't face criminal contempt proceedings after speaking out about the case.

New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano on Monday ordered attorney Jeremiah Donovan to appear at an Oct. 6 hearing. Fasano said Donovan's statement outside of court Friday violated a gag order and could prejudice the trials of both men.

Donovan represents Joshua Komisarjevsky (koh-mih-sar-JEV'-skee), who is awaiting trial. His co-defendant, Steven Hayes, is on trial.

Donovan said Friday he did not believe he was violating the gag order and was trying to clear up a misunderstanding by the victims' relatives related to charges that Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted one of the girls.

The case of a New York man accused of killing his wife and incinerating her in an oil drum is going back to court.

Opening arguments in the retrial of Werner Lippe of Cortlandt, N.Y., are set for Monday at the Westchester County Courthouse.

Lippe confessed three times to killing his wife Faith. He later recanted and insisted during his trial last winter that he last saw her being driven away from their home in October 2008.

Prosecutors never found a body or any trace of one. They alleged that Lippe, a jeweler, burned his wife in a backyard oil drum — which was not recovered. They said he could have used the acids he kept in his home workshop to get rid of bones and teeth.

A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a woman and her 11-year-old son.

Polish national Krystian Krysztof Rozek, 27, admitted killing Monika Wasko, 29, and her son Patryk in a knife attack at their home in Cae Hir, Flint, North Wales, where he had been lodging.

Rozek pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mrs Wasko's husband Rafael, an official from Caernarfon Crown Court said.

Mrs Wasko died at the scene and Patryk died at Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool three days after the multiple stabbing. Paramedics arrived at the scene in the early hours of July 11.

A York County IT consultant and a Maryland executive have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and criminal forfeiture, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Donald J. Cochran Jr., 44, of New Park and David B. Bossi, 43, of Phoenix, Md., conspired to defraud Adecco S.A. out of nearly $1.5 million, a news release stated.

Adecco S.A. is a Global Fortune 500 company with a domestic headquarters in Mellville, N.Y.

Between 2003 and 2006, Bossi worked as vice president for Ajilon Consulting, an Adecco subsidiary, police said. In 2006, he was responsible for the reviewing and approving of all Data Center Consolidation Project invoices, which entailed a relocation to North Carolina.

Cochran was the owner of Information Technology consulting firms -- Technology Products and Services and Information Technology Management Systems -- headquartered in York County.

Cochran submitted about 64 false invoices between August 2007 and August 2008 for equipment and services that were never provided to Adecco on the DCC Project, police said.

A man convicted of murder after three bloodhounds allegedly matched his scent to the victim should be set free because the evidence against him was not legally sufficient, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The court acquitted Richard Winfrey Sr., reversing his 2007 conviction in the murder of high school janitor Murray Burr in the small town of Coldspring, about 60 miles north of Houston.

Under the ruling, prosecutors will not be allowed to retry the case.

Winfrey remained in state prison Wednesday. His attorney, Shirley Baccus-Lobel, said she planned to immediately file a motion for his release with the state appeals court. It is possible he could be freed by Friday, his 57th birthday.

"We thank God first and then Shirley second," said Vicky Winfrey-Daffern, the defendant's sister. "We are so overjoyed. Everybody's turning flips."

The main evidence against Winfrey in the 2004 murder was a positive scent identification from three bloodhounds named Quincy, James Bond and Clue. The dogs belong to former Fort Bend Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett, who retired earlier this year after being targeted by the Innocence Project of Texas, a group that claims the ex-lawman passes off junk science as legitimate investigative techniques.

Pikett is a defendant in at least three lawsuits from men saying they were wrongly jailed after his dogs linked them to crimes they did not commit. He did not return a message left by The Associated Press.