A Navy ship commander is facing a military court hearing in San Diego Friday on accusations of sexually assaulting two women on his crew.

Cmdr. Jay Wylie will undergo a general court-martial, the military court reserved for the most serious offenses, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Wylie is the former skipper of the Everett, Wash.-based destroyer USS Momsen.

Wylie's attorney, Jeremiah Sullivan, wouldn't say Thursday what kind of plea his client will enter but told the newspaper that Wylie will "take full responsibility for his actions."

According to the Navy, Wylie got drunk on two occasions and sexually assaulted the women.

The first incident alleges that on New Year's Eve, Wylie pinned a junior female officer, tried to kiss her and assaulted her with his hand up her skirt.

A Memphis-based law firm with a large presence in Louisiana will expand into Texas through an acquisition announced today. Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC will retain its name as it merges with Houston-based Spain Chambers.

Ranked the 73rd-largest law firm in the country before the merger, the expanded Baker Donelson will include 620 attorneys and advisors working in 17 offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and the District of Columbia.

The merger will help to retain and attract new clients, as large companies doing business across mutliple states look to consolidate their legal service providers, said Roy Cheatwood, managing shareholder of Baker Donelson's Louisiana offices.

"Many of our clients would ask us if we had a Texas presence, because if so, they would be interested in having us as their law firm there," said Cheatwood. "It's no surprise that many New Orleans firms, the firms we consider to be our major competition, have Houston offices."

While the Spain Chambers practice focuses primarily on litigation, energy, construction and the financial sector, Baker Donelson provides legal services to a broader range of industries, including banking, real estate, and health care. The merger will allow Baker Donelson to further expand its offerings, Cheatwood said.

A Texas death row inmate is trying to convince the courts to force prosecutors to turn over knives, clothing and other evidence for DNA testing that his attorneys say could prove his innocence.

But prosecutors say the request from 49-year-old Henry Watkins Skinner is an empty tactic to delay his execution next month.

Both sides will lay out their arguments Monday before a federal magistrate judge in Amarillo. The hearing comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Skinner could ask for the untested evidence but left unresolved whether prosecutors had to surrender the items.

Skinner was convicted for the 1993 deaths of his girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two adult sons, Elwin "Scooter" Caler and Randy Busby. They were killed on New Year's Eve at their home.

The 6th District Court of Appeals in Texarkana has ordered a new trial for a Cass County man convicted of killing his wife.

The Texarkana Gazette reports that the court on Wednesday granted 50-year-old David Len Moulton's request for a new trial.

Moulton was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2010 of the 2004 death of Rebecca Moulton. Her body was found in a pond on the couple's property in Atlanta, Texas. A cause of death could not be determined.

The appeals court agreed with arguments by defense attorney Jason Horton that the jury was given an improper instruction. The instruction said jurors could convict Moulton if they determined he asphyxiated his wife by unknown means.

The Supreme Court will decide whether a law making it a crime to lie about having received military medals is constitutional.

The justices said Monday they will consider the validity of the Stolen Valor Act, which passed Congress with overwhelming support in 2006. The federal appeals court in California struck down the law on free speech grounds and appeals courts in Colorado, Georgia and Missouri are considering similar cases.

The Obama administration is arguing that the law is reasonable because it only applies to instances in which the speaker intends to portray himself as a medal recipient. Previous high court rulings also have limited First Amendment protection for false statements.

The court almost always reviews lower court rulings that hold federal laws unconstitutional.

The case concerns the government's prosecution of Xavier Alvarez of Pomona, Calif. A member of the local water district board, Alvarez said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. In fact, he had never served in the military.

A Utah man has been charged in federal court after authorities say he threatened to shoot air marshals, hijack the flight and urinate in the cabin of a Delta Airlines plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit.

During a Thursday appearance in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, a judge allowed Jared L. Hansen to remain free pending a Nov. 7 hearing in Detroit. Hansen was ordered to surrender his passport and abstain from drinking alcohol, among other conditions.

He didn't return a telephone message seeking comment Thursday, and no attorney was listed for him in court records.

Hansen, 31, was aboard an Oct. 4 Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit when authorities say he attempted to use the bathroom in the business class section of the cabin. Members of the flight crew asked him to either return to his seat or use the facilities in the rear of the cabin, but he refused, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Hansen, who was believed to be heavily intoxicated, then threatened to urinate in the cabin and exposed himself, authorities said.