A German-born man who is charged with killing his 91-year-old socialite wife and who a doctor has said was delusional will spend at least another month in a mental health hospital, a judge decided Wednesday.

A judge ordered Albrecht Muth, 47, held for another month during a mental health hearing in D.C. Superior Court.

Muth is charged in the August strangulation and beating death of his wife, Viola Drath, a German journalist. He was sent from jail to a psychiatric hospital in February for a competency screening after a doctor said Muth was delusional and claimed the Archangel Gabriel tells him what to do.

A report filed in court Tuesday said a psychologist who examined him at Saint Elizabeths Hospital had concerns about his current ability to rationally understand the proceedings against him and his ability to help his attorneys with his case. The hospital said it believes Muth's mental health is likely to improve with time and treatment, however.

Muth's lawyers and lawyers for the government agreed the hospital should be given additional time to treat him.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Russell Canan encouraged Muth to work with the hospital staff. Muth nodded but did not say anything during the hearing. Canan scheduled the next hearing in the case for April 25.

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The San Francisco sheriff has a political thicket to get through now that he's putting his legal woes behind him with a plea bargain in a domestic violence case that made international headlines.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment in exchange for the dropping of three more serious charges, including misdemeanor domestic violence and child endangerment.

The plea doesn't automatically disqualify Mirkarimi from office, but San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said Monday he plans to consult with city attorneys and investigate what disciplinary actions he can take. Lee does have the authority to attempt to remove Mirkarimi from office if the mayor believes the conviction rises to official misconduct.

"This clearly remains serious and troubling for our city," Lee said in a statement.

In everything it does, from product design to business deals, Apple strives for as much control as possible.

But as the world's most valuable company sets out to define and dominate the rapidly evolving markets it created with the iPhone and the iPad, Apple is likely to face antitrust regulators who want to curb its power.

Apple's clout is coming under scrutiny as the U.S. Justice Department considers filing a lawsuit against the company and five U.S. publishers on allegations they orchestrated a price-fixing scheme on electronic books.

The involved parties are trying to avoid a high-profile court battle by negotiating a settlement, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper broke the news last week about the government's plans to allege that Apple Inc. and the publishers tried to thwart e-book discounts offered by Amazon.com Inc. and drive up prices since the 2010 release of the iPad.

"I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Apple," says Ted Henneberry, an antitrust attorney for the Orrick law firm in Washington.

A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a New York rule banning law firms from selling ownership stakes to non-lawyers.

The suit was filed by the personal injury firm Jacoby & Meyers.

The firm said the rule violated its First Amendment freedom-of-association rights.

It claimed that the rule preventing non-lawyers from owning stakes in law firms hindered its ability to raise capital to cover technology and expansion costs. It also said it hurt its ability to provide legal services to working class clients.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the judge found that Jacoby & Meyers' ability to raise money from non-lawyers would still be restricted by other New York laws even if he struck down the rule.

The Livingston Parish Council is hiring private lawyers to defend the parish against a $52 million lawsuit filed by an Alabama company that spearheaded clean-up efforts after Hurricane Gustav struck in 2008.

The Advocate reports the council retained the McGlinchey, Stafford PLLC law firm to begin a preliminary review of the case.

After Gustav struck in September 2008, IED Inc. was placed in charge of clearing storm debris from Livingston Parish roads and waterways.

The council expected the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the costs. But after FEMA refused to pay about $52 million billed for the work, IED filed a lawsuit against the parish.

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