The AlabaThe violent North Carolina criminals set to be freed later this month because of a court ruling and good conduct credits have racked up more than 250 infractions in prison for offenses such as fighting, weapon possession and theft.

Department of Correction records reviewed Friday by The Associated Press show the violations go as far back as the 1970s but also appear as recently as 2008, raising questions about whether the prisoners are reformed. Each one of the 20 inmates has at least two infractions, and combined they have a total of 256.

They have repeatedly been denied parole.

The inmates are scheduled to be released Oct. 29 after state courts sided with one of the inmates, double murderer Bobby Bowden, that a 1970s law defined a life sentence as only 80 years. The state's Fair Sentencing Act in 1981 included a retroactive provision essentially cutting all those sentences in half, and good behavior and other credits have shortened the sentences to the point that they are now complete.

Bowden had argued before the Court of Appeals in 2008 that he had accumulated 210 days of good conduct credit, 753 days of meritorious credit, and 1,537 days of gain time credit. But the 60-year-old has also racked up 17 infractions in prison, including two for weapon possession, one for damaging property and several for disobeying orders.

O.J. Simpson's convicted co-defendant got a fair trial and wasn't a victim of "spillover prejudice" as he alleges in his appeal, a prosecutor told the Nevada Supreme Court on Friday.

"A defendant 'is not entitled to a perfect trial, but only a fair trial,'" wrote Clark County District Attorney David Roger, citing state and federal case law supporting his position that Clarence "C.J." Stewart should remain in prison for his role in a September 2007 armed hotel room heist.

Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Bryson still has a chance to answer the district attorney's 46-page response to Stewart's initial request for the court to overturn Stewart's conviction.

The former Simpson golfing buddy claims he should have been tried separately from the former NFL football star, whose acquittal in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles was dubbed the "trial of the century."

Stewart also maintains that evidence was improperly used against him, and that the jury foreman hid a bias toward Simpson until after the pair were convicted and sentenced.

Somerset County Business Partnership, in conjunction with the township-based Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus law firm, will present a seminar, "An Overview of Issues in Designing and Building Green,'' at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The morning-long forum will take place at the offices of Norris, McLaughlin & aMarcus, 721 Route 202/206.

The seminar will provide an overview of the emerging and evolving field of green building, addressing such issues as how and why to build green, available incentives, lending opportunities and legal issues in design and construction.

Noted experts in the field of green building, real estate finance and insurance will participate, including Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula, deputy speaker of the State Assembly; Edward Hogan, Chris Stevenson, Jesse Nash, Charles Miller, Melinda Fellner Bramwit and Frank Araps of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus; Michael Kerwin, LEED-certified president/CEO of Somerset County Business Partnership; William Amann, LEED-certified chairman of the state chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, William Lashbrook of PNC Real Estate Finance, and Raymond Pavese of Pavese-McCormick Insurance Agency.

Registration and networking will begin at 8:30 a.m. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations at 11:30 a.m. The program will end at noon.

The seminar is free of charge but registration is requested by contacting Cassie Coldreck at 908-722-0755 or ccoldreck@nmmlaw.com.

The Milwaukee and Madison law firm of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC said Wednesday that it has hired Paul Eberle to become the chief executive of the firm.

Eberle becomes one of the first nonlawyers to serve as chief executive of a major law firm, Whyte Hirschboeck said.

Eberle will work through the end of October alongside Mark Miller, the firm’s current CEO, who announced his departure earlier this year after eight years of leading Whyte Hirschboeck. Eberle will begin his new position on Nov. 1.

Bruce Arnold, a managing director at Whte Hirschboeck’s Milwaukee office, said the hiring of Eberle will allow attorneys to focus on providing legal services, enabling the firm to better serve clients around the state. The law firm has more than 150 attorneys and paralegals practicing more than 40 areas of law.

Eberle is a founder and past president of hardware, software, services and leasing firm, Capital Data Inc. in Milwaukee and has served as a managing member at Capital Properties of Wisconsin, a private equity firm involved in real estate investment and management. He also is a founding shareholder of Green Bay-based Lasernet Inc., a print, mail and electronic data services company.

San Francisco officials say cigarette maker Philip Morris has dropped its lawsuit challenging the city's prohibition on tobacco sales at pharmacies.

The announcement Thursday by the city attorney's office follows a federal appeals court ruling denying the company's request for an injunction that would have kept the city from enforcing the year-old law.

City officials say the ban makes sense when tobacco products are unhealthy and drugstores are supposed to promote health.

The city still is defending the law in a separate lawsuit brought by the Walgreens drugstore chain. A Superior Court judge dismissed that case, which is now on appeal.

Attorneys for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy said Wednesday they see a positive sign in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear the appeal of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling.

Like Skilling, some of the charges against Siegelman and Scrushy involved charges that make it a crime to deprive the public of "the intangible right to honest services."

Critics have complained that the 28-word "honest services" law is vague and sometimes used by prosecutors when they are unable to prove another crime was committed.

Siegelman attorney Sam Heldman said the Supreme Court's decision to hear three different cases involving "honest services" charges is a sign that the law is "broad and confusing."

"It shows that some members of the court are concerned prosecutors are overreaching in this whole area of the law," Heldman said.

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined to comment.

Siegelman and Scrushy are waiting to hear if the U.S. Supreme Court will review appeals of their convictions in a government corruption case. They were convicted of bribery, "honest services" mail fraud and other charges in 2006. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year threw out two charges against Siegelman, but rejected most of his appeal and denied Scrushy's.

The two have also asked U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller in Montgomery to grant them a new trial, citing misconduct by prosecutors, inappropriate communications between jurors and other issues.

Siegelman was accused of appointing Scrushy to an influential hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in contributions to Siegelman's campaign for a statewide lottery. The appeals to the Supreme Court focus heavily on whether prosecutors proved that Siegelman and Scrushy had a "quid pro quo" agreement where they would each receive something of value.

A cadre of murderers and rapists, several of whom victimized young girls, will be set free from North Carolina prisons this month after state courts agreed that a decades-old law defined life sentences as only 80 years long.

Dozens more inmates could be released in the coming months unless the state can figure out a legal recourse to keep them behind bars, officials said Thursday. Gov. Beverly Perdue called them "dangerous criminals" who have repeatedly been denied parole.

"I'm appalled that the state of North Carolina is being forced to release prisoners who have committed the most heinous of crimes, without any review of their cases," Perdue said in a statement.

One of the 20 inmates set for release, Bobby Bowden, had argued that a law adopted in 1974 clearly defined life sentences as just 80 years. The 60-year-old convicted murderer believed that the statute, combined with good conduct credits, means his life sentence is now complete.

The Court of Appeals sided with Bowden last year. North Carolina's Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the state earlier this month after a lawyer from the attorney general's office had argued that the 80-year figure was ambiguous and likely meant to determine when somebody would be eligible for parole.