During his third day of closing arguments, William DuBois again told the jury that the software engineer's odd behavior after his wife went missing does not prove guilt because he is an "eccentric intellect."

DuBois told the jury how his client is not normal, and his strange behavior — such as not looking for his wife or ripping the passenger seat out of his car — does not illustrate his guilt, but rather his eccentricities.

"I've stipulated he's not normal," DuBois said. He then turned to his client and said, "Sorry, Hans, you're not normal."

DuBois said all the jury needs to do is look at the video of him explaining his computer file system at a seminar at Google to see he is a "genuine nerd" and not like most other people.

DuBois added his strange behavior "is not because he is hiding evidence, but because he is strange."

However, DuBois added if jurors do find his client guilty, they should convict him of voluntary manslaughter — not the more serious charge of murder — because the crime would have been done in the "heat of passion."

Nevertheless, DuBois' main point was that the prosecution has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt its case against Reiser.

Carulli faces an expected five-year prison term. His sentencing was set for May 13.

"My best defense was going in front of a judge and hoping she would see my side," Carulli said outside the courtroom.

Carulli acknowledged he solicited sex online and drove from his home in Brown Mills, N.J., to Long Island for a liaison. He insisted he believed his correspondent was 24, but prosecutors maintained he knew she was 14.

Unbeknownst to Carulli, the electronic enticement was part of a police operation in which Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson pretended to be a lonely 14-year-old girl. She chatted with men online and on the phone, drawing them to a home where a camera crew from television's "America's Most Wanted" was waiting. An episode involving the sting aired in 2007.

Carulli sensed something was wrong when he got to the house and left. He was arrested at a highway exit three miles away. His defense lawyer, Robert Macedonio, had called the arrest a stunt for the media, suggesting his client was coerced into making an incriminating statement and paraded before the "America's Most Wanted" cameras.

Carulli's guilty plea came after parts of a graphic chat-room transcript was read in court, and several police officials testified that Carulli confessed that he thought he was arranging for sex with a minor.

Seven other men also have pleaded guilty in the sting.

A panel of appeallate judges in Washington says the case of Ahmed Belbacha (AH-med bel-BA-kah) deserves another review by a U.S. District Court judge.

The appeals court ruling Friday says the probability of Belbacha prevailing is far from clear. But the court says he is entitled to further consideration in light of the seriousness of the harm he might face if he ends up back in his home country of Algeria.

Belbacha contends his life would be in danger, both from the government and from al-Qaida.

The Florida Supreme Court this week disciplined 19 attorneys, including two in Central Florida.

Norman Sanders Moss, 813 E. Michigan St., Orlando, was suspended until further order of the court following a Feb. 27 court order, and was ordered to stop acting as a personal representative for any estate, as guardian for any ward and as trustee for any trust.

The Florida Bar's petition for emergency suspension says Moss misappropriated $107,000 held in trust for clients. Moss, who retired from The Florida Bar Jan. 14, 2008, is currently the subject of five other Florida Bar disciplinary matters.

In addition, Paulette Deloise Singleton, 499 N. State Road 434, Suite 2019, Altamonte Springs, was disbarred for five years effective 30 days from a Feb. 14 court order.

The Bar says beginning in early 2006, Singleton began not adequately communicating with clients and failed to diligently pursue their cases. Clients attempting to reach her would find her phone disconnected, and one found mail piled outside her office door.

In one case, the Bar says she took a fee and did no work and then only partially refunded the fee. In another case, she was late for a final hearing with no evidence of preparation.

As an official agency of the Florida Supreme Court, The Florida Bar and its Department of Lawyer Regulation are charged with administering a statewide disciplinary system to enforce Supreme Court rules of professional conduct for the 80,000-plus lawyers admitted to practice law in Florida.

Final orders on complaints about judges will be posted on appeals court Web sites and, in most cases, judges will be named if they have been sanctioned.

The changes were adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States, a 27-judge body led by Chief Justice John Roberts that met Tuesday at the Supreme Court. The new rules take effect in 30 days.

Only a handful of the complaints that are filed annually against federal judges advance beyond a preliminary review. Five of the 841 complaints filed in the government spending year that ended Sept. 30 resulted in the formation of special investigative committees of judges to look into allegations against a colleague.

In one recent case, judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said there was evidence to support impeachment of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. for misconduct, including lying in bankruptcy court and accepting gifts from lawyers with cases before him.

The Judicial Conference will decide by September whether to recommend that the House consider impeaching Porteous, said Chief Judge Thomas Hogan of U.S. District Court in Washington, the chairman of the conference's executive committee.

The increased attention to allegations of improprieties by judges grew out of a report released in 2006 by a committee headed by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. The report found problems in the way judges have handled high-profile complaints against their colleagues.

On a separate matter, Hogan said judges oppose legislation that would tie a pay raise to a ban on most paid seminars for judges. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., attached the travel restrictions to the pay raise bill that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in January.

"The way it's written is far too broad," said Hogan, noting that one commentator has remarked that under the proposal, "the Supreme Court could travel to Europe but not come back."

A court ruling that California parents "do not have a constitutional right" to home-school their children has touched off anger and bewilderment throughout America's home-schooling community and prompted a denunciation from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For a movement that has gained greater accommodation in recent years, a state appellate court decision last month is a setback that, if not overturned on appeal, could force some 166,000 home-schooled students in California to enroll in conventional schools. It may also prod California and other states with vague or nonexistent laws on home schooling to be more specific about what is allowed and what is required of home-schoolers.

California's education statutes, for instance, do not mention "home schooling," but officials have allowed the practice for decades. The appellate court, however, found that the state's laws have not been changed to allow home schooling since a case back in 1953 erected a major roadblock to the practice.

Governor Schwarzenegger said Friday he would go to the legislature if the ruling is not overturned.

"I could see this ruling being a real strong impetus for home-schoolers in California to get the legislature to change their laws.... Or I could see it being perhaps the beginning of other states wanting to look more closely both at their laws and current enforcement," says Kimberly Yuracko, a professor at Northwestern University's Law School in Chicago.

The number of students nationwide who are home-schooled is not known because 10 states are so hands-off they require no reporting at all, nor do parents always comply with reporting requirements. Estimates range from 1.1 million to 2.5 million home-schooled students, and the numbers are rising.

About half the states require more than simple notification from parents or guardians, such as testing, curriculum approval, or home visits. But such rules are dwindling – either explicitly or by lax enforcement, say experts. Home-school advocates worry the California case could bring more regulation or enforcement, or both.

The immediate impact of the ruling was not clear. Attorneys for the state Department of Education were reviewing the ruling, and home schooling organizations were lining up against it.

"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote in a Feb. 28 opinion for the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Noncompliance could lead to criminal complaints against the parents, Croskey said.

An estimated 166,000 students in California are home schooled, but it was not known how many of them are taught solely by an uncredentialed parent.

To earn a five-year preliminary teaching credential in California, a person must obtain a bachelor's degree and complete multiple examinations.

Until now, California allowed home schooling if parents filed paperwork to establish themselves as small, private schools; hired a credentialed tutor; or enrolled their child in an independent study program run by an established school while teaching the child at home.

The ruling stems from a case involving a Los Angeles-area couple whose eldest child reported "physical and emotional mistreatment" by the father, court papers said.

The father, Phillip Long, vowed to take the case to the state Supreme Court.

"I have sincerely held religious beliefs," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Public schools conflict with that. I have to go with what my conscience requires me."