A South Texas man accused of beheading his common-law wife's three children was found guilty of capital murder Monday at his second trial.

A state appeals court had overturned John Allen Rubio's previous conviction and death sentence in 2007, saying the children's mother had wrongly been allowed to testify. A second jury deliberated for about three hours before convicting him again.

Rubio, 29, of Brownsville, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and his defense attorneys had argued that the sheer brutality of the crime showed he was not in his right mind. Defense attorney Nat Perez described it during his closing argument as "overkill."

Evidence showed Rubio made increasingly ferocious attempts to kill the children, strangling and stabbing them, then finally cutting off their heads. Rubio initially said he killed the children, all under age 4, because they were possessed.

Police discovered the bodies of 3-year-old Julissa Quesada, 14-month-old John E. Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio on March 11, 2003, in a squalid Brownsville apartment.

Rubio was convicted on four counts of capital murder. Each death was covered by one count, and the fourth count included all of them.

The trial will now move to a punishment phase, in which prosecutors plan to again seek the death penalty.

US Airways has asked a federal judge to resolve a seniority dispute involving its pilots.

Executives with the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier said Monday's legal action in U.S. District Court in Phoenix is called a complaint for declaratory relief. They say the dispute has significantly stalled efforts to negotiate a joint contract covering the 4,000 pilots joined together by the merger of America West and US Airways five years ago.

The airline's pilots union says it will vigorously oppose the company's move. The US Airline Pilots Association says the court has no jurisdiction in labor contract negotiations.

Seniority is important to pilots and flight attendants because it dictates their schedules, pay, vacations and promotions.

A former New Hampshire high school teacher charged with e-mailing nude photographs of herself to a 15-year-old student faces a court hearing.

Forty-one-year-old Melinda Dennehy of Hampstead is scheduled to appear Monday in Derry District Court on a felony charge of indecent exposure. She was arrested in March after the photos were found circulating around Londonderry High School. She resigned three weeks later.

Police also allege Dennehy also text-messaged the student, offering sex.

Republican Sen. Richard Lugar says he'll vote to confirm Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice.

The Indiana Republican is the second in the GOP to announce he's breaking with his party to back President Barack Obama's nominee to succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens.

Lugar says he's carefully followed Kagan's confirmation hearing testimony and the debate about her nomination, including recommendations from his constituents, and concluded that she is clearly qualified to serve on the high court.

Democrats have more than enough votes to confirm Kagan. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Tuesday became the first Republican to say he'll join them. A few others are expected to follow suit.

FBI agents say Chesser tried to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab as a fighter. An FBI affidavit says he was stopped from flying once by his mother-in-law and the second time was told he was on the no-fly list.

He is not charged for an online posting saying the creators of the animated series "South Park" risked death by mocking the Prophet Muhammad.

Former Seton Hall basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty to a shoplifting charge.

Gonzalez is accused of taking a satchel worth about $1,400 from the Polo Ralph Lauren store in The Mall at Short Hills last month. Police say he removed the sensor device from the satchel and walked out of the store without paying for it.

Gonzalez was arraigned in Newark on Wednesday on criminal mischief and shoplifting charges. The shoplifting charge is punishable by up to five years in jail.

Gonzalez was fired in March after Seton Hall lost in the opening round of the NIT. He has sued the school over his dismissal.

Conrad Black, the brash former newspaper magnate who lived extravagantly before his 2007 federal conviction for defrauding shareholders, may soon be released from a Florida prison after a federal appeals court granted him bail Monday.

The ruling from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals came weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court kicked Black's fraud conviction back to a lower court.

Black, who renounced his Canadian citizenship to become a member of the British House of Lords, was convicted along with three other former executives from the media empire Hollinger International of swindling the company's shareholders out of $6.1 million. He was acquitted of nine other charges.

It was not immediately clear when Black, 65, would be released from the low-security prison in Coleman, Fla., where he has served more than two years of a 6 1/2-year sentence. The conditions of his release will be determined by U.S. District Court judge in Chicago, according to an order from the three-judge panel.

Last month, the Supreme Court weakened the "honest services" law that was central to Black's fraud conviction. The justices left it up to a lower court to decide whether the conviction should be overturned. That decision has not yet been made.