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.

Attorneys involved in the gay marriage case said Tuesday that couples can begin picking up marriage license applications sometime on or after Nov. 10. A judge at the New Haven Superior Court, where the case began in 2004, still must decide the precise date.

The state Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex marriages became official Tuesday with its publication in the Connecticut Law Journal. The publication triggered a 10-day period when motions for reconsideration can be filed.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said after that period ends on Nov. 10, the Superior Court judge can act on the high court's ruling.

The judgment may come later that week because Nov. 10 is a Monday, a busy day for the Superior Court, and Tuesday is a state holiday.

The state Department of Public Health is having new marriage applications printed that reflect the change. Instead of putting one name under "bride" and the other under "groom," couples will see two boxes marked "bride/groom/spouse." The new forms are expected to be shipped out to city and town clerks later this week.

The old court was dissolved on Sunday under a new constitution that took effect last week. The temporary 21-member court chosen at random from the ranks of the 31 former justices is supposed to operate until a permanent body takes over in 2009.

Judges warned last week that they would refuse to take seats determined by the "degrading" lottery.

Ex-justice Mauro Teran was the first to reject his seat following Wednesday's selection. He said the rest would follow suit, and called the lottery "an affront to the judicial office."

It is not clear what officials will do if all the judges refuse their seats.

Ragip and Kemal Shabani channeled 1.5 tons of heroin through Europe from the mid-1990s until 2003, when they were shut down, prosecutors said. They used a small town in Kosovo as their base with branches in Macedonia, Albania, Spain and the Czech Republic, according to the Federal Criminal Court.

The trial — considered one of Switzerland's largest-ever drug cases — was held under high security in the southern town of Bellinzona, with only some relatives and journalists allowed into the courtroom.

Judge Jean-Luc Bacher sentenced Ragip Shabani to 15 years in prison for breaking Swiss narcotics law, and ordered the 42-year-old to pay 300,000 francs ($261,400) in court costs.

Kemal Shabani, 28, was given only a two-year suspended sentence for participating in a criminal organization, and was charged 90,000 francs ($78,400) in court costs.

Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was charged with attempted extortion as a public official and theft of honest services as a state senator. She did not enter a plea during an initial court appearance Tuesday.

She faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines on each count.

Wilkerson, 53, lost the Democratic primary in September to former teacher Sonia Chang-Diaz despite support from Mayor Thomas Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick. She is running a write-in campaign for the Nov. 4 election, in hopes of retaining the seat she has held since 1993.

Wilkerson was ordered Tuesday to have no contact with witnesses and retain any documents related to the extortion case or to her personal finances.

In asking for those conditions, Assistant U.S. Attorney John McNeil said Wilkerson has a "long history of acting as if she is above the law."

Wilkerson's attorney, Max Stern, said she would obey the judge. She has been released on an unsecured $50,000 bond.

The girl's father, Jon E. Pomeroy, 43, and stepmother, Rebecca A. Long, 44, each could face three to four years in prison if convicted of criminal mistreatment.

King County Superior Court Judge Cheryl Carey ordered the couple to avoid contact with the girl and her 12-year-old brother, who are both in foster care. The couple declined to comment afterward.

The couple was charged on Oct. 13, two months after the girl was removed from the home near Carnation, about 20 miles east of Seattle, by the state Department of Social and Health Services.

In court documents, a deputy sheriff described the girl as "extremely skinny and pale" and found she weighed only 48 pounds.

Court documents also said that doctors who evaluated the girl found that she was extremely malnourished and that she hadn't gained weight since she was 9.

The girl told investigators she was allowed about 6 ounces of water each day, and was monitored by Long to keep from drinking extra water. Pomeroy was aware of her treatment but did nothing to stop it, the girl said.

Long told police that she used the water restriction to punish her stepdaughter. The son was not similarly mistreated.

Both Long and Pomeroy had been released from the King County Jail after each posted $20,000 bond.

"I believe it's finally going to be over. I'm getting myself prepared to be done and get it over with," Marco Allen Chapman told The Associated Press.

Defense attorneys this week asked the state Supreme Court to stay the 36-year-old's execution, set for Nov. 21. Even though Chapman dismissed his lawyers in 2004 before pleading guilty to murder, public defenders have continued to file motions on his behalf, questioning his competency.

Attorneys have also filed motions arguing that he shouldn't be put to death until appeals are exhausted in a separate case questioning Kentucky's execution protocol. That case is pending before the state Supreme Court.

Chapman has been found competent three times. He has sued public defenders, seeking an order to stop them from filing additional appeals. He says he wants to be executed for murdering 6-year-old Cody Sharon and 7-year-old Chelbi Sharon in the northern Kentucky town of Warsaw in August 2002.

The Kentucky Attorney General's office asked the state's high court on Tuesday to call off any more competency tests and allow Chapman to be executed.

If the lethal injection goes forward, he would become the first Kentucky inmate put to death since 1999.

Chapman remains hopeful that the court proceedings are swiftly concluded and says he's sorting through what could be the final details of his life.

"We're still working on things, like what to do with my remains," Chapman said.