HOUSTON >> Texas can go forward with the execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a case that relied on evidence of shaken baby syndrome, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Lawmakers of both parties in the Texas House, who believed Roberson deserved a new trial, had temporarily halted the execution last month by issuing a legislative subpoena for Roberson to testify before a House committee.

Such a last-minute legislative intervention in a scheduled execution had never before been attempted in Texas, and it raised novel questions about the separation of powers among branches of state government.

The Texas Supreme Court, in its 31-page decision, found that the legislative committee’s subpoena to block the execution had gone beyond the powers of the Legislature.

“We conclude that under these circumstances the committee’s authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution,” Justice Evan Young wrote in a decision for the nine-member court, whose members are all Republicans.

A new execution date can now be set. But doing so will take at least three months, and the court said that during that time, the lawmakers can still call Roberson to testify, and that the executive branch would have to accommodate such a request.

Trial begins in killing of Ga. nursing student

ATHENS, Ga. >> A Venezuelan man “went hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus” earlier this year and ended up killing nursing student Laken Riley after a struggle, a prosecutor said Friday. The man’s lawyer, though, said the evidence is circumstantial and doesn’t prove his client is guilty.

Jose Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally, is charged with murder in the February killing, which helped fan the immigration debate during this year’s presidential campaign. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial, meaning his case is being heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.

Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley Feb. 22 while she was running on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in the city that is about 70 miles east of Atlanta.

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said, adding that the evidence would show that Riley “fought for her life, for her dignity.”

As a result of that fight, Ibarra’s DNA was left under her fingernails, Ross said. Riley called 911 and, in a struggle over her phone, Ibarra’s thumbprint was left on the screen, she said.

That forensic evidence is sufficient to prove Ibarra’s guilt, but digital and video evidence also prove that Ibarra killed Riley, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing, but he said none of it proves that his client killed Riley.

“The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered,” he said. “The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial.”

Daughters of Malcolm X sue CIA, FBI and NYPD

NEW YORK — Three daughters of Malcolm X have accused the CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others in a $100 million lawsuit Friday of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader.

In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the daughters — along with the Malcolm X estate — claimed that the agencies were aware of and were involved in the assassination plot and failed to stop the killing.

At a morning news conference, attorney Ben Crump stood with family members as he described the lawsuit, saying he hoped federal and city officials would read it “and learn all the dastardly deeds that were done by their predecessors and try to right these historic wrongs.”

The NYPD and CIA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, which was also sued, declined comment. The FBI said in an email that it was its “standard practice” not to comment on litigation.

Far side of moon once had erupting volcanoes

NEW YORK >> Volcanoes were erupting on the mysterious far side of the moon billions of years ago just like on the side that we can see, new research confirms.

Researchers analyzed lunar soil brought back by China’s Chang’e-6, the first spacecraft to return with a haul of rocks and dirt from the little-explored far side.

Two separate teams found fragments of volcanic rock that were about 2.8 billion years old. One piece was even more ancient, dating back to 4.2 billion years.

“To obtain a sample from this area is really important because it’s an area that otherwise we have no data for,” said Christopher Hamilton, a planetary volcano expert at the University of Arizona who was not involved with the research.

Scientists know there were active volcanoes on the near side, the part of the moon seen from Earth, dating back to a similar time frame. Previous studies, including data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, suggested the far side might also have a volcanic past. The first samples from that region facing away from Earth confirm an active history.

The results were published Friday in the journals Nature and Science.

Shelter scrambles after getting 1,000 mice

STRATHAM, N.H. — A group of mice is called a nest, but what do you call 1,000 of them in one animal shelter?

“Crippling,” said Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents.

It all started Monday when a man arrived saying he wanted to give up 150 mice. But then he clarified: 150 containers of mice, not individual critters. He had 73 mice with him that day, and by Friday morning, about 450 had been transferred to the shelter. Another 500 or so were on the way.

And that number is growing thanks to some basic biology. Many of the mice arrived pregnant.

“One of the challenges is that the gestation is short and breeding begins early on,” said Dennison. “It’s an enormous problem. This is something that got out of control significantly.”

Part of the shelter’s cat pavilion has been turned into a mouse hospital and hotel, with dozens of containers lined up on the floor, resting atop multiple tables and stacked on shelves. It’s a lot of work for a facility that at most once took in 125 animals in one day.

“It does happen where you take a large number, but even when we took in 54 goats or we took in 39 cats, I mean, those are still large numbers, but much more manageable as you can imagine than hundreds and hundreds of mice,” Dennison said.

Other shelters have agreed to take some of the mice, and some are being sent to foster homes. At least four were adopted Friday.

— News service reports

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