Judge: No dismissal of Edwards charges

Judge: No dismissal of Edwards charges

GREENSBORO, N.C.

A federal judge refused to throw out campaign- corruption charges against John Edwards on Friday, meaning the former presidential hopeful will have to present his case to a jury.

Lawyers for Edwards argued before U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles that prosecutors failed to prove the 2008 candidate intentionally violated the law or that some of the alleged offenses actually occurred in the Middle District of North Carolina, the venue where he was indicted.

Anti-foreign law measure passed

TOPEKA, Kan.

A bill designed to prevent Kansas courts or government agencies from making decisions based on Islamic or other foreign legal codes has cleared the state Legislature after a contentious debate about whether the measure upholds American values or appeals to prejudice against Muslims.

The Senate approved the bill Friday on a 33-3 vote. The House had approved it, 120-0, earlier in the week. The measure goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who hasn’t said whether he’ll sign or veto the measure.

The measure doesn’t specifically mention Shariah law, which broadly refers to codes within the Islamic legal system. Instead, it says that courts, administrative agencies or state tribunals can’t base rulings on any foreign law or legal system that would not grant the parties the same rights guaranteed by state and U.S. constitutions.

Conviction in Hudson murders

CHICAGO

A Chicago jury on Friday convicted Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson’s former brother-in-law of murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in what prosecutors described as an act of vengeance by a jilted husband.

Hudson, who expressed her undisguised disdain for William Balfour when she took the witness stand and who endured weeks of excruciating testimony about the October 2008 killings, was visibly overcome with emotion as the verdict was read. Hudson’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head and bit her lip. Afterward, she looked over at her sister, Julia Hudson, and smiled.

Balfour faces a mandatory life prison sentence.

US soldier killed

KABUL

A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot dead a U.S. service member in the east of the country, one of two NATO troops killed Friday, military officials said. The Taliban took credit for the attack.

Also Friday, the U.S.-led military coalition offered condolences to the families of Afghan civilians who were killed in airstrikes earlier this month.

The shooting was the 15th incident this year in which Afghan soldiers or insurgents disguised in military uniforms have turned their weapons on foreign troops.

Photo: Zimmerman ancestor was black

ORLANDO, Fla.

A photo aired by CNN shows a black-skinned man that Orlando attorney Mark NeJame says was George Zimmerman’s great-grandfather.

It appears to support what Zimmerman’s family has been saying for months: that Zimmerman has black-skinned relatives and was raised in a mixed-race family.

His views on race are important because Zimmerman, 28, of Sanford, is awaiting trial in Sanford on a second-degree murder charge. He shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, Feb. 26 as the teen walked through a gated community.

Trayvon’s father, family lawyers and critics say Zimmerman is guilty of racial profiling and murder.

Combined dispatches