Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer, 51, and a woman described as his companion, Terri Leavy, 42, have been held as material witnesses in California since their separate arrests in the kidnapping investigation. Cole Puffinburger was abducted Oct. 15 and found unharmed late on Oct. 18 on a Las Vegas street.

Tinnemeyer and Leavy were to appear before a federal magistrate on charges of interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, said Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Gregory Brower.

Las Vegas police have characterized the boy's abduction as a message from "Mexican nationals" and methamphetamine traffickers aimed at Tinnemeyer, who police alleged made off with millions of dollars in drug money. Police said two gunmen posing as police officers tied up the boy's mother and her boyfriend and ransacked their home before taking the boy.

Tinnemeyer was arrested Oct. 17 in Riverside, Calif. Leavy was arrested Oct. 19 in Fontana, Calif.

Judge Charles Hely said Carolyn Riley should be released on her own recognizance once she proves she has a place to live because she has been held without bail for 20 months.

The trial has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22, but could be postponed as the state Appeals Court considers prosecutors' appeal of a decision reducing the charge against the Rileys from first- to second-degree murder in the death of their daughter, Rebecca.

The girl was found dead on her parents' bedroom floor on Dec. 13, 2006.

A state medical examiner determined Rebecca died of a lethal combination of prescription drugs for bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for which she and two older siblings were being treated.

David W. Johnson, 59, had an expectation to privacy when he visited his wife, a stroke victim, at Divine Savior Nursing Home in Portage, the District 4 Court of Appeals ruled. Therefore, police violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches when they installed a hidden video camera in the room, the court said.

"We are satisfied that Johnson's expectation of privacy while visiting his wife in her nursing home room is one that society would recognize as reasonable," the unanimous three-judge panel wrote.

The ruling means prosecutors cannot introduce the videotapes as evidence in their case against Johnson, who is charged with felony sexual assault for having intercourse with his wife without her consent at least three times in 2005.

Johnson's attorney, Christopher Kelly, said his client would visit his now 54-year-old wife every day, reading her the Bible and moving her arms and legs so her muscles wouldn't atrophy.

The woman's sister is upset that prosecutors brought charges against him, Kelly said. "She believes her sister's husband was merely expressing his love for his wife and was trying everything he could to bring her back to consciousness," Kelly said.

The couple married in 1988 and had no children, Kelly said.

Kelly said he believed prosecutors would be forced to drop the charges without the evidence on the tapes and thought the appeals court made "a pretty obvious call."

Johnson's wife was admitted to the nursing home after suffering a stroke. Court records say she was unable to speak or sit up, and nursing home staff members fed, cleaned and turned her. Prosecutors say she was comatose.

Johnson visited her frequently and sometimes would close the door to her room so they could have privacy as allowed by the nursing home. But staff members tipped off police, fearing she was in danger because, they suspected, he was having sex with her.

Police obtained a search warrant to videotape the room and installed the camera, which ran for three weeks. Johnson, who is free on bail, was charged based on that evidence.

Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass said she was confident neither person has been influenced by the contact.

It was unclear if the person actually represented a media outlet. Court officials were reviewing videotapes from the courthouse in an attempt to identify the man who contacted the two people after court adjourned Tuesday.

Court information officer Michael Sommermeyer said any media contact with jurors would be a violation of a court order and punishable with a contempt of court finding or confiscation of press credentials.

"The court and the judge are attempting to do everything in their power to empanel a jury that's as unbiased as humanly possible and not tainted by any outside influence," Sommermeyer said.

He said the two people refused to be interviewed and reported the alleged contact to the judge on Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers are vying for an edge as they try to shape a jury that will decide whether Simpson and a buddy robbed two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a casino hotel room a year ago.

Twenty people have been dismissed after two days of questioning. No jurors have been seated. Twelve people have advanced through personal questioning by both sides to remain in consideration.

Jerry Buck Inman, 37, of Tennessee, pleaded guilty last month to murdering 20-year-old engineering student Tiffany Marie Souers in May 2006 in her apartment about three miles from the South Carolina college's campus. A judge will decide whether Inman is executed or sentenced to life in prison.

"He is filled with guilt and shame," Inman's attorney Jim Bannister said. "That eats him from the inside out on a daily basis. ... It leads him to the conclusion that he is an animal and that he deserves to die."

But Bannister argued during the first day of the sentencing hearing that his client should not be executed. He said Inman "came into this world impaired to start with," living in a home where his father molested him and his mother suffered from mental illness.

A police officer found the weapon when the 22-year-old man arrived for a hearing Tuesday at District Judge Jonathan Grine's office in State College.

The man was arraigned on new charges including possession of a firearm in a court facility and taken to Centre County jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.

Court documents indicate the man's earlier actions led court staff members to believe he was armed. Police say he called asking if there was a locked box to store his gun, later entered the office and ran out, returned and checked the court calendar, then took pictures of signs saying weapons are prohibited.