Charles Dean Hood won a reprieve Tuesday, but not because of the alleged affair.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said it will reconsider its previous dismissal of an appeal by Hood that challenged jury instructions. The court said developments in the law regarding jury nullification instructions made reconsidering its ruling prudent.

At the same time, the court dismissed claims by Hood's attorneys that he was denied a fair trial because of the alleged relationship between retired Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell. O'Connell and Holland gave depositions under a court order Hood's attorneys won on Monday.

The reprieve came around the time Hood's lawyers sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter saying that Holland and O'Connell "admitted under oath that they had an intimate sexual relationship for many years."

Attorneys for Holland and O'Connell said they were under court order not to discuss their clients' testimony.

"The intimate sexual relationship between the judge and the district attorney began several years prior to the trial of Mr. Hood," lawyer Greg Wiercioch said in his letter to the governor re-emphasizing his earlier petition for a 30-day reprieve.

George Banks, 66, is psychotic and unable to comprehend his sentence or participate in his defense, making him incompetent to be put to death, Judge Michael Conahan said.

Banks, whose victims included five of his own children, "has a hopeless prognosis and will not improve to any acceptable degree," the judge said.

Defense experts testified at a hearing last month that Banks believes his sentence has been vacated by God or Jesus, that he is no longer under the threat of death, and that he is being held in prison as part of a conspiracy to get him to renounce his religious beliefs.

Defense attorney Al Flora said Monday that prosecutors should stop their decades-long pursuit of the death penalty for Banks, saying it is no longer worth the time and expense.

"I think it's about time that this community really gets beyond the George Banks case," Flora said. "The man is dying in isolation. He's severely mentally ill, and I think each day he's tormented by his own mind."

Prosecutors said they have no intention of dropping the case.

Assistant District Attorney Scott Gartley said that even though Banks is mentally ill, he "comprehends the reason for his sentence and its implications" and thus meets the legal standard for execution. He said the district attorney's office will appeal the ruling.

Banks, a former prison guard, picked up a semiautomatic rifle on Sept. 25, 1982, and began shooting at two houses in Wilkes-Barre and nearby Jenkins Township. He killed a total of seven children; his three live-in girlfriends; an ex-girlfriend; her mother; and a bystander in the street.

Banks, who is biracial, has maintained that he shot his children to spare them the racial prejudice he endured in Wilkes-Barre, a city 100 miles north of Philadelphia. Prosecutors noted his history of abusing women and said he had been involved in a nasty custody battle with one of the victims.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court halted Banks' execution in December 2004 and ordered a hearing to determine Banks' mental competency.

Conahan ruled in early 2006 that Banks couldn't be put to death, but the state Supreme Court ordered a fresh hearing to determine Banks' mental state after finding that the judge improperly barred a prosecution psychiatrist from testifying.

Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass turned down the request Monday during a hearing on motions before prospective jurors were summoned for questioning.

The judge says questionnaires filled out by prospects asked whether they were familiar with Simpson's other trials, and she is not going to relitigate those cases.

Simpson and a co-defendant are accused of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers in a hotel last year.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 slayings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, but was found civilly liable for their deaths.

Isaac Zamora made the chilling comment twice at the brief hearing in Skagit County District Court while investigators wrapped up their work at eight crime scenes. The 28-year-old is being held on $5 million bail in the wake of Tuesday's rampage, which left six people dead and four injured.

District Court Judge Warren Gilbert read each charge and the penalties, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. That doesn't mean the death penalty is off the table, according to the Skagit County prosecutor.

"Do you talk about it? Sure you talk about it," Prosecutor Rich Weyrich told the Skagit Valley Herald. "Where it goes, it's way too early to decide that."

Zamora was not required to enter a plea Friday. The charges filed in District Court allow Zamora to be held in custody for 30 days. He will later be formally charged in county Superior Court.

Sanjeev Nanda, 30, who pleaded innocent, was convicted on manslaughter charges in what is known as the BMW case.

The high-profile case has been seen as a test of whether India's judicial system, which has a long history of favoring the well-connected, is willing to hold the wealthy accountable.

Judge Vinod Kumar sentenced three other defendants to prison terms ranging from six months to one year on charges of destroying evidence.

"This is a harsh penalty," said Nanda's attorney, Prem Kumar, adding that he would appeal the verdict in New Delhi's High Court.

However, Ved Marwah, a former police commissioner and a prominent commentator on criminal affairs, said Nanda should consider himself lucky that he didn't get the maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

At a hearing in Kenton, Mauk was on the witness stand Thursday testifying about a long history of foot problems that began before his freshman year at Kenton High School. His lawyers say those foot issues lingered, making Mauk unable to play his first season at Wake Forest. He later transferred to the University of Cincinnati.

Mauk wants to play one more season with the Bearcats but has been turned down five times by the NCAA, most recently Wednesday.

His attorneys have requested a permanent injunction and are arguing that he should be granted a sixth year of college football eligibility.

After filing a Right to Know request, the American Civil Liberties Union found 188 such citations between March 1, 2005, and Oct. 31.

"Nobody likes to get sworn at, but you can't make it a crime," said Witold Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Foundation of Pennsylvania.

The ACLU's request came in connection with a federal lawsuit involving David Hackbart, who was cited after allegedly making an obscene gesture at another driver, and then at a police sergeant. In a recent court filing, the city said the citation was not for Hackbart's gestures, but because he was blocking traffic.

Walczak told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the city had initially claimed it had only one disorderly conduct citation involving rude remarks to police or other people over that period. He called the additional citations evidence that the department had failed to adequately train its officers.

Walczak said officers were wrong to cite a woman who said, "I'm a (expletive) passenger," during a traffic stop; a woman who was "swearing profanities to a companion in front of the Girl Scouts"; and a man who "engaged in loud noise, racial slurs and pig remarks."

City attorney Michael Kennedy declined to comment on Hackbart's case and told the newspaper he could not explain the difference between the 188 citations found in court records and the one citation claimed by city police.

In 2002, a Pittsburgh man won a $3,000 jury verdict for malicious prosecution after being cited for a traffic dispute in which he cursed at officers.