Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.'s defense team has filed what are likely the final documents in the case. They argue his trial team was ineffective and that Rodriguez is mentally disabled. Rodriguez is facing the death penalty for the killing of a University of North Dakota student in Grand Forks.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Minnesota businessman Tom Petters received a fair trial. He was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

A Minneapolis federal judge reinstated charges against a woman who refused to stand in court because of her religious beliefs. Amina Farah Ali was cited for contempt 20 times while she stood trial last year. Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan were convicted for providing financial support to the terrorist group Al-Shabab. Tuesday's ruling affects 19 of those charges but the judge dropped the previously imposed jail time. The two have not been sentenced.

A Minnesota woman convicted of funneling money to a Somali terror group is appealing her contempt of court ruling. During the trial, a judge held Amina Ali in contempt because she refused to stand when the judge entered the courtroom.

The bankruptcy estate of former Minnesota businessman Tom Petters will receive nearly $34 million. A U.S. District Judge approved three “clawback” settlements with GE Capital, Fredrikson & Byron, and the John T. Petters Foundation. Petters is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence for his fraud conviction.

The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear the appeal of a former nurse convicted of encouraging suicide in online chatrooms. Fifty-year-old William Melchert-Dinkel of Faribault was convicted of two counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, of Coventry, England, who hanged himself in 2005; and 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped into a frozen river in 2008.

The Associated Press reports the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out 19 of the 20 contempt-of-court citations against one of the Rochester women convicted of funneling money to a terrorist group in Somalia. The three-judge panel sent the case back to Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis for further proceedings.

The largest civil jury verdict in Stearns county history was overturned by the Court of Appeals. Cathy Olson filed a civil lawsuit against her uncle William Holden for sexual abuse she endured from 1977 to 1984. Olson claims repressed memories was the reasoning behind filing a lawsuit nearly 30 years later and she was awarded $10.7 million by a jury. The Court of Appeals disagrees, ruling two of her claims were barred by the statue of limitations.