NEW YORK — A jury convicted a U.S.-educated Pakistani neuroscientist on Feb. 2 of trying to kill FBI agents and U.S. military personnel while she was detained in by police in Afghanistan in 2008.

Aafia Siddiqui, 37, was found guilty on all seven counts. She faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced on May 6.

Siddiqui was unable to rebut accusations, which she described as "ridiculous," that on July 18, 2008, she picked up an unattended M-4 rifle belonging to a U.S. Army officer and began firing the weapon. Instead, jurors apparently were convinced by the emotional testimony of the anonymous officer.

NEW YORK — A man who hired a detective to trail his wife to a motel where she was having an affair with a local priest was not stalking her, a judge has ruled.

Forced to resign after her husband turned over a recording of her and the priest to officials at the church where she worked, the wife accused her husband of violating an order of protection requiring him to stay away from her home and place of employment.

Family Court Judge Debra J. Kiedaisch, sitting in the state trial court's integrated domestic violence department, held that the husband, who handed over the tape only at the urging of church officials, had the right to gather evidence to defend himself in a divorce proceeding.

NEW YORK — A volunteer firefighter who crashed his own vehicle while responding to an emergency should be covered under his fire department's insurance, a trial judge has ruled.

Christopher Pelszynski, a 20-year veteran of the North Babylon, N.Y., Volunteer Fire Company, sustained multiple injuries in a 2006 crash when his truck was rammed by another car pulling out of a shopping center. After settling with the other driver, the firefighter brought a claim under his department's $1 million underinsured motorist policy.

Relying on an informal opinion by the state Insurance Department, Suffolk County, N.Y., Judge Mark Cohen ruled that the statutory language meant that Pelszynski could arbitrate his claim.

While the agency's opinion "does not demand stare decisis adherence," the judge wrote, the conclusion that an employee operating a personal vehicle in the scope of employment was entitled to coverage "seems to be the reasonable construction of the policy language," even if the employee is a volunteer.

NEW YORK — A federal judge was set to approve a number of proposed settlements involving the estates of disbarred attorney Marc S. Dreier and his defunct 250-lawyer firm.

Prosecutors and trustees charged with liquidating the Dreier estates asked U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff to approve the agreements, including one with investment manager GSO Capital Partners L.P. He said that he intended to issue a written opinion approving the "proposed settlements in their current form" no later than Feb. 5.

Under the agreements, Sheila Gowan of Diamond McCarthy, the trustee for Dreier LLP, would refrain from challenging the government's attempt to collect certain forfeited funds. Prosecutors would transfer certain property to Gowan, including nearly 100 artworks that have not been traced to Dreier's crimes. The government would agree not to go after proceeds from avoidance actions brought by the Chapter 11 trustee.

NEW YORK — A disbarred lawyer who has stayed out of New York state for fear of being arrested to serve a 30-day contempt sentence has been sanctioned by New York City's chief federal bankruptcy judge for raising a "vexatious" motion with "an improper purpose."

Judge Stuart Bernstein ordered the former lawyer, Kenneth Heller, to pay more than $4,800 to cover one of his opponent's legal costs for making a third attempt to collaterally attack a $3.7 million settlement negotiated for one of his former clients by Jacoby & Meyers.

In December, Bernstein denied Heller's request to be paid a portion of the $1.2 million in fees he had approved for Jacoby & Meyers' work after the firm replaced Heller because he had been disbarred for conduct in unrelated matters.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A defense attorney serving 90 days for making a lewd gesture in court will not spend the entire time in jail.

Adam Reposa will be released on Feb. 12 and allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence at home on work release.

Texas Senior District Judge Paul Davis on Feb. 3 ordered Reposa to attend all medical appointments with his pregnant girlfriend.

Several judges testified as character witnesses for Reposa, condemning his March 2008 gesture simulating masturbation before County Court-at-Law Judge Jan Breland while representing a client.

NEW YORK — A draft settlement has been negotiated in the nearly 10,000 lawsuits seeking damages for respiratory and other ailments allegedly incurred in the first response and massive cleanup after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein disclosed the development during a Jan. 21 hearing with lawyers for the plaintiffs and counsel for New York City and other defendants. There was no indication that two sides were close on how much money would be involved, nor was there any indication a settlement was imminent. The first trials are scheduled for May.

The cases allege that toxic fumes at the attack site caused a range of illnesses.

PHILADELPHIA — A trial judge has upheld a jury verdict finding that drug maker Wyeth failed to warn a plaintiff's prescribing physician of the dangers of breast cancer from using Wyeth's hormonal drugs.

A Philadelphia jury awarded $75 million in punitive damages and $3.7 million in compensatory damages last fall. However, Common Pleas Senior Judge Norman Ackerman reduced the amount on Jan. 29 to $5.6 million, 1.5 times the compensatory award.

The compensatory damages include $1.25 million in delay damages. Plaintiff Connie Barton won $10.6 million in all.

More than 1,500 hormone replacement therapy cases are pending in Philadelphia's Complex Litigation Center, the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court's center for mass tort litigation.

BOSTON — A judge has ordered Boston family lawyer Gerald Nissenbaum and another attorney to refund a client's estate nearly $329,000 in excess fees.

Plymouth County, Mass., Probate and Family Court Judge Stephen Steinberg's Jan. 14 order gave the attorneys 30 days to make the payments.

According to Steinberg's order, the attorneys sought $500,000 in legal and guardian fees for an 83-day guardianship of Kenneth Simon that ended with Simon's death on Nov. 2, 2005.

Nissenbaum must repay Simon's estate more than $199,000. Simon's guardian, E. James Veara of Dennis, Mass.-based Zisson & Veara, must repay more than $107,000. Together, they also must repay the estate $21,000 for payments to legal vendors during the guardianship.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police on Feb. 3 arrested a fortuneteller accused of forging a will that left him the multibillion-dollar estate of his late lover, tycoon Nina Wang, who once was Asia's richest woman.

Two wills emerged after Wang died of cancer at age 69 in April 2007. One left her fortune to a charity she set up with her late husband and another named feng shui adviser Tony Chan Chun-chuen, 50, as the beneficiary.

A Hong Kong court on Feb. 2 sided with the charity, ruling that the will that benefited Chan was a forgery.

A Hong Kong police spokeswoman said that police arrested Chan in connection to a document forgery case. Chan wasn't immediately charged. n