Rafael Robb, once a tenured economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faces a prison sentence of no more than seven years for bludgeoning his wife, Ellen, on Dec. 22.

Robb, 57, said Monday that he got into an argument with his wife about a trip she was taking with their daughter and whether they would be returning in time for the daughter to return to school.

"We started a discussion about that. The discussion was tense," Robb said. "We were both anxious about it. We both got angry. At one point, Ellen pushed me. ... I just lost it."

An indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court accuses Clinch County Sheriff Winston Peterson of perjury, obstruction of justice, using forced labor and extorting former jail inmates.

Peterson, 62, pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday and was released on $10,000 bond.

Investigators say the sheriff charged jail inmates $18 per day for room and board. County officials agreed in April 2006 to return $27,000 to hundreds of inmates who paid the fees between 2000 and 2004. Peterson also used an inmate to do work at a business run by his wife, investigators say.

The sheriff is charged with obstructing justice by alerting an unindicted co-conspirator about the identity of an FBI informant he believed was part of a criminal investigation into courthouse activities. He is also accused of lying during a grand jury investigation of a Superior Court judge.

Neither Peterson nor his attorney could be reached for comment Thursday night. An after-hours call to his attorney's home went unanswered, and the sheriff could not be reached through the dispatcher.

Peterson is the latest Clinch County official to be caught up in investigations into the rural county's practices.

Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III and Chief State Court Judge Berrien Sutton face allegations by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, a state agency that investigates Georgia judges and has power to recommend removing them from office. They have not been charged with any crimes.

Blitch, 72, is accused of ordering illegal payments to county employees, ordering the early release of imprisoned felons and presiding over a case involving his son.

Blitch's attorneys have said an investigation will prove he is innocent.

Sutton is accused of appointing non-lawyers to hear criminal cases, pressing a magistrate judge to help one of his business associates and signing an illegal order to collect court fees that were later distributed to county officials.

Thomas Whithers, an attorney for Sutton, said Wednesday the judge looks forward to his day in court. "Judge Sutton has done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend these allegations," he said.

Deandre Witherspoon, 24, pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder in the killings of Orlando Herron, 13, and Darren Johnson, 11. The two were found shot in the head inside their ransacked home in February.

Authorities have said the boys were the victims of a drug-related robbery of their older cousin, an admitted drug dealer who survived being shot at the home.

Witherspoon, the sixth and final suspect in the case, avoided a potential life sentence by agreeing to the plea. His trial was set to begin Tuesday.

He now faces 22 to 40 years when he is sentenced Nov. 12.

Separate juries earlier this month returned guilty verdicts against Sonya O'Neal, 38, and Robert Reed, 36. They face mandatory sentences of life in prison when they are sentenced Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Witherspoon hatched the plan to rob the boys' cousin of drugs and money, and O'Neal did the shooting. Three others have pleaded guilty.

Two co-defendants, one of them a Mesa man, pleaded guilty to reduced charges Tuesday in the O.J. Simpson armed-robbery case, agreeing to testify against Simpson and three others in the alleged theft of sports collectibles from two memorabilia dealers.

Behind the scenes, prosecutors prepared to file an amended criminal complaint increasing the number of charges in the case to 12, including a second felony charge of coercion against Simpson and two new coercion charges each against the three remaining co-defendants.

The new complaint also alleges Simpson and Charles "C.J." Stewart conspired to persuade others to tell authorities that no guns were used.

The revised document, obtained by the Associated Press, removes Walter Alexander of Mesa and Charles Cashmore from the case, while naming Thomas Riccio in the Sept. 13 meeting between Simpson and memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.

Riccio, who was given immunity from prosecution, is expected to join Cashmore and Alexander in testifying for the prosecution.

Alexander pleaded guilty to the felony of conspiracy to commit robbery.

The district attorney said he would seek a suspended sentence for Alexander, a golfing buddy of Simpson's. "I'm very much at peace at what I've done today and what I'm going to continue to do," Alexander said as he clutched a Bible outside court. "I'm not here to try to hurt or help O.J. Simpson. I'm only here to tell the truth."

Late on Monday, the Nevada State Supreme Court agreed to a request by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada to stay the execution pending an upcoming ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection. The country's highest court agreed on September 25 to review the issue, the same day Castillo was scheduled to die.

The Nevada court also said the state's methods are cruel and unusual because the prisoner is so heavily sedated it is impossible for witnesses to determine the actual effects of the injection, effectively violating First Amendment rights.

The ruling is an effective reprieve because Castillo's execution order is only good for a week, and the U.S. Supreme Court is not expected to rule before then. A number of states, including California, have halted executions pending the legal review of whether the current method of lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Castillo had given up his remaining appeals, saying he was ready to die for bludgeoning an 86-year-old Las Vegas teacher to death in 1995.

Castillo worked on Isabel Brendt's roof, then returned with a female companion after finding a house key. He burglarized the home and beat Brendt to death with a tire iron. They later burned down the home.

The complaint charges NutriSystem and certain of its officers with violations of the Exchange Act while at the same time selling nearly $7 million in their personal holdings of NutriSystem stock. According to the complaint, during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements that misrepresented and/or failed to disclose: (a) that the Company had been signing up fewer new customers and was not performing according to internal expectations; (b) that the Company's costs of acquiring new customers were significantly increasing; and (c) that the Company's performance had been negatively impacted by competition from other weight loss products on the market. As a result, the defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the Company and its prospects, which artificially inflated NutriSystem stock to Class Period highs exceeding $70 per share while the defendants unloaded nearly $7 million in NutriSystem stock.

After the markets closed on October 3, 2007, the Company announced its preliminary third quarter 2007 results and revised earnings guidance for the full year of 2007. In response to this announcement, the price of NutriSystem common stock fell $15.98 per share, or approximately 34%, to close at $31.59 per share, on extremely heavy trading volume.

If you are a member of the class, you may move the Court, through counsel of your choice, no later than December 10, 2007 to serve as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as lead plaintiff. If you have sustained losses on your purchases of NutriSystem publicly traded securities during the Class Period, please contact Klafter & Olsen LLP at http://www.klafterolsen.com or call us at 202/261-3553 for a more thorough explanation of the lead plaintiff selection process and the claims that can be asserted against NutriSystem.

Klafter & Olsen LLP has extensive expertise in prosecuting investor class actions involving financial fraud and has offices in Washington D.C. and New York. Please visit our website for more information about the Firm.