The Rev. Edward Pinkney was convicted in 2007 of paying people $5 to vote in a recall election in the southwestern Michigan city of Benton Harbor and was sentenced to probation.

Months later, Pinkney wrote a commentary in a Chicago-based populist newspaper that said Judge Alfred Butzbaugh could be punished by God with curses, fever and "extreme burning" unless he repented, a reference to an Old Testament passage. The black minister also described Butzbaugh, a white judge who presided over his case, as dumb, racist and corrupt.

In June 2008, another Berrien County judge sent Pinkney to prison for three to 10 years for violating probation with his words. Pinkney appealed saying his free-speech rights were trampled.

"I was asked no question by anyone including the president about my views on any specific legal issue," she said at the outset of a second day of questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

She made her remark after Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked about a published report that administration officials have been seeking to reassure abortion rights groups concerned about her position on the issue.

Sotomayor, 55, is in line to become the first Hispanic to sit on the Supreme Court. Even Republicans concede she is on the way toward confirmation, barring a major gaffe.

Sotomayor sidestepped when Cornyn asked whether she stood by or disavowed a controversial 2001 remark that a "wise Latina" judge would often make better decisions than a white male.

She said she stood by her statement on Tuesday that the comment was a rhetorical flourish gone awry.

Forty-five-year-old John Fautenberry of Oregon was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Fautenberry was sentenced to death for the slaying of Joseph Daron Jr., who picked him up while he was hitchhiking on Feb. 17, 1991.

Fautenberry also confessed to killing a four people in three other states — Alaska, Oregon and New Jersey — during a five-month period in late 1990 and early 1991.

Fautenberry is the first inmate executed in Ohio since June 3.

Ohio has put 30 men to death since it reinstated the death penalty in 1999.

A lawyer says the artist who created the "Hope" poster of President Barack Obama will plead guilty to some of the vandalism charges he faces in Boston, while other charges will be dropped.

Shepard Fairey was in Boston Municipal Court on Friday. His attorney Jeffrey Wiesner says they are finishing details of the agreement with prosecutors, but says Fairey will plead guilty to some of the 13 vandalism charges.

Fairey, of Los Angeles, was arrested in February when he was in Boston to kick off an exhibit.

Prosecutors have already dropped 14 charges that claimed the 39-year-old artist placed stickers on public property.

Fairey says he dramatically changed an Associated Press image to make the "Hope" poster. The AP has said the uncredited and uncompensated use violates copyright laws.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has endured weeks of insults, obnoxious questions and unwelcome drilling into her work as a judge and a lawyer — and it was all on purpose, essentially a dress rehearsal for her confirmation hearings.

In a series of faux hearings, Sotomayor has been barraged by hostile questions thrown her way by allies preparing the federal appeals judge for the interrogation that will begin Monday. She's been reviewing her past writings, speeches, cases and legal opinions while gaming questions she is likely to hear next week when the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up her nomination.

And Sotomayor also has been learning the quirks of senators who will do the questioning, and developing a thick skin for the barbs that might come her way.

The point is to ensure that no question comes up that Sotomayor hasn't heard and hasn't answered in the mock exercises.

"Judges are not accustomed to being judged," said Ed Gillespie, a White House counsel for President George W. Bush who helped prepare John Roberts and Samuel Alito for their confirmation hearings. "Helping them to understand the nature of the confirmation process and the nature of the Senate is important."

Sotomayor has faced Senate questioning before — when she was nominated by President George H.W. Bush for a federal trial judgeship in 1992, and again in 1997 when President Bill Clinton nominated her for a seat on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Brooke Astor's son is back at his Manhattan trial, a day after he fell and hit his head in a courthouse restroom.

Anthony Marshall, who's 85, had heart surgery last fall. He takes blood thinners and walks unsteadily with a cane. He also has reportedly suffered a mild stroke.

Marshall denies charges that he exploited his mother's dementia to loot her $198 million fortune.

On Thursday, a prosecution witness waited to resume her testimony as lawyers held a conference with the judge.

Pearline Noble of the Bronx was Astor's nursing assistant. She started working for the philanthropist in mid-2003, helping her with grooming and other personal tasks.