On Sunday, Nicholas Sampson filed paperwork to add David Kofoed, commander of the Douglas County CSI unit, and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to a 2007 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against the Nebraska State Patrol and the Cass County Sheriff's Office.

The amendment says Kofoed violated Sampson's constitutional rights by planting a speck of blood in a car Sampson had driven.

Sampson spent five months in jail after being wrongfully charged in the deaths of Wayne and Sharmon Stock. The couple were found slain in their Cass County farmhouse on April 17, 2006. Both had been shot in the head at close range with a shotgun.

"Law enforcement involved with the Stock investigation insists that the case against Nick Sampson remains an open case," said Sampson's attorney, Maren Chaloupka. "I find that ironic, given that the only person currently under indictment is one of their own."

Kofoed, 52, was charged Wednesday in Cass County Court with evidence tampering and was indicted a day later on four federal charges, including falsifying records.

His attorney, Steve Lefler, has said Kofoed may have made some mistakes in the case, but they did not rise to the level of criminal misconduct.

In its first ruling on broadcast indecency standards in more than 30 years, the high court handed a victory to the Federal Communications Commission, which adopted the crackdown against the one-time use of profanity on live television when children are likely to be watching.

An attorney for a prominent New York City lawyer accused in a $700 million fraud says his client will plead guilty next month to all the charges he faces.

Defense attorney Gerald Shargel said Monday his client Marc Dreier (DRY'-ur) will enter the plea May 11 to securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges.

Shargel says Dreier wants to enter the plea to demonstrate his acceptance of responsibility and his profound remorse.

Until December, Dreier had led a law firm with 250 attorneys and celebrity clients. He was arrested after hedge funds complained he was stealing from them.

Prosecutors say the 58-year-old could face a maximum of 30 years to life in prison.

The Cullman Democrat had originally been scheduled to be in Jefferson County District Court on Tuesday. Defense attorney Mark White said Monday the hearing was to determine if Little had an attorney, and the court has already been notified that he does.

Little's next court date is May 18, but that could be changed because that's the final day of the 2009 legislative session.

Little was arrested April 3 in Jefferson County. He was charged with drunken driving, failure to yield for an emergency vehicle, having an open container of alcohol in the car and having an expired driver's license.

President Barack Obama won more than 48 percent of the vote in November in this overwhelmingly white community northwest of the state capital.

Yet Canyon Creek, the heart of Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One, is the site of a major Supreme Court battle over the federal government's often used and most effective tool in preventing voting discrimination against minorities.

The utility district's elected five-person board manages a local park and pays down bond debt. Because it is in Texas, the board is covered by a section of the Voting Rights Act that requires approval from the Justice Department before any changes can be made in how elections are conducted.

That requirement applies to all or parts of 16 states, mostly in the South, with a history of preventing blacks, Hispanics and other minorities from voting.

The utility district is challenging that section of the law, which Congress extended in 2006 for 25 years. The Obama administration is defending it.

The Voting Rights Act, enacted in 1965, opened the polls to millions of black Americans. The law "has been the most important and transformative civil rights act in our country's history," said John Payton, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The federal government has used the provision, known as Section 5, to "stop things that would have perverted our democracy," Payton said. His group represents Texans and organizations seeking to preserve the section.

On the other side are the utility district, an array of conservative legal groups and some Southern Republicans.