The U.S. has transferred a dozen Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region as the Obama administration continues to move captives out of the facility in Cuba in preparation for its closure.

The Justice Department said Sunday that a government task force had reviewed each case. Officials considered the potential threat and the government's likelihood of success in court challenges to the detentions.

Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to authorities in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.

The Justice Department said that since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed the military prison in Cuba and 198 remain.

A judge on Thursday ruled against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough order for thousands of California prison guards in a decision that could cost the state millions.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch sided with the 30,000-member California Correctional Peace Officers Association and ordered the state to pay prison guards back for the days they worked without pay.

The union argued that Schwarzenegger's furlough order amounted to an illegal wage cut because prison guards could not take time off fast enough due to the nature of their work.

"We are thankful for the judge's ruling regarding our peace officer members receiving compensation for the time they worked," said CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran.

Corcoran said it's not clear how much the decision could cost the state but estimated it to be in the millions.

Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola said the governor plans to appeal. The administration argued the furlough plan at the Corrections Department is working because it gives workers flexibility to schedule their time off without disrupting prison operations.

The attorney general's office in North Carolina is petitioning the state Supreme Court to block the release of two convicted killers who had been serving life sentences.

Lawyers filed their petition Friday, a day after the state appeals court rejected a request to keep Alford Jones and Faye Brown behind bars. If the appeals court order stands, the inmates will go free at 5 p.m.

State courts previously sided with the inmates in determining their life sentences were actually defined in the 1970s as 80 years. The inmates say that with sentence-reduction credits, that means their terms are now complete.

The state disagrees and says the prisoners should not receive any sentence-reduction credits for good behavior.

A convicted murderer who pleaded guilty to selling the gun used to kill ex-NFL quarterback Steve McNair has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Thirty-three-year-old Adrian Gilliam, of nearby La Vergne, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Nashville to 30 months.

Gilliam acknowledged during a court hearing in September that he sold a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic pistol to McNair's mistress for $100.

Nashville police said the woman, 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, used the weapon to kill McNair and herself on July 4.

Gilliam was arrested about two weeks later and initially pleaded not guilty.

A woman accused of laundering some of the $10 million her husband allegedly embezzled from a Tennessee company is scheduled to stand trial in federal court Feb. 1.

Federal court records say Danielle J. Williams withdrew more than $300,000 from accounts where her husband allegedly put the stolen money.

She pleaded not guilty Dec. 10. He trial will be held in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

Walter Thomas Williams III, also known as Thom W. Williams, was indicted in November on wire fraud charges for allegedly embezzling from his employer, Verso Paper Corp. in Memphis, Tenn.

Thom Williams, of Hernando, Miss., was a financial analyst for Verso.

A judge is hearing a request by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to dismiss a lawsuit filed by legislators challenging a computer contract issued by Riley's administration.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tom King is conducting the hearing Thursday morning in Montgomery. King got the case after all of Montgomery's circuit judges stepped aside.

Members of the Legislature's Contract Review Committee filed the suit over the Riley administration's contract with Paragon Source. They want the unbid contract canceled. Officials in the Riley administration say Paragon is the only company that can do the work.

The Illinois Supreme Court is not yet issuing an opinion on whether the state's medical malpractice law is constitutional.

The court announced earlier this week it could rule Thursday on whether damage awards in medical mistakes may be capped.

But no opinion was released. Justices traditionally give no reason for the timing of their decisions.

The General Assembly adopted caps in 2005 as a way to keep doctors from fleeing the state because of rising insurance rates.

It limited what victims could collect for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering to $500,000 against doctors and $1 million against hospitals.

A Cook County judge ruled in 2007 that caps interfered with juries' power to award appropriate damage awards for medical errors.