(AP) — A federal judge has granted a motion by condemned Nebraska inmate John Lotter to have new attorneys appointed to represent him in his efforts to get off death row.

Lotter and a co-defendant were convicted in the 1993 slaying of Teena Brandon, a 21-year-old woman who lived briefly as a man, and two witnesses — a crime that inspired the 1999 movie “Boys Don’t Cry.” Lotter has maintained his innocence.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf last week granted Lotter’s request to appoint Rebecca Woodman and Jessica Sutton — both attorneys with the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic in Kansas City, Mo. — as his lawyers in all clemency and post-conviction proceedings.

(AP) — A Nebraska woman has died just days after a wedding that was hurried up because she and her soon-to-be husband knew she’d soon succumb to cancer.

Vaughn Wright of Harman-Wright Mortuary said Thursday that Jessica Nabity died Monday at her parents’ home outside Diller. Nabity was 36.

Nabity became ill last year and was diagnosed with small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. Doctors told her earlier this month that several tumors had developed on her liver and in her lungs. She was given only weeks to live.

So she and her fiance, Paul Nabity, decided to quickly get married and did so Jan. 11 in Diller.

Her mother, Linda Holtmeier, said Jessica spent her final days visiting friends and family and planning her funeral.

(AP) — A federal judge has declared a mistrial in a civil rights lawsuit seeking damages for six people wrongly convicted in a 1985 Nebraska murder.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf declared the mistrial Thursday, after three days of jury deliberation following a three-week trial.

Six of the 12 jurors told the judge that they were unlikely to reach a verdict.

James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Joseph White and Thomas Winslow served a combined 77 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated them in 2008. The estate of White, who died in 2011, and the surviving five sought at least $14 million in damages, saying their civil rights were violated and that they were coerced into damaging statements.

(AP) — Four men facing new charges in connection with the death of a 5-year-old have appeared in court for bond hearings.

20-year-old Vincent Hicks, whom police believe fired the bullet that killed Payton Benson on Jan. 15, has been ordered held without bond. He’s charged with first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy and two weapons counts.

Three others — 22-year-old Adonus Moses, 18-year-old Jaylen Montgomery and 21-year-old Jacob Brown — are all being held on $1 million bond each.

Moses is charged with criminal conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Montgomery is charged with three weapons counts, and Brown is charged with two weapons counts.

Police have said Payton was eating breakfast in her home when she was struck by a stray bullet.

(AP) — A Hastings teenager has been accused of stabbing his father in the back following a physical fight between them.

The 17-year-old boy told police he and his father got into a fight around midnight Wednesday. The boy says his 42-year-old father put him in a headlock, so the boy pulled out a knife and stabbed him.

The teen is charged as an adult with second-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony. The Associated Press normally doesn’t name minors suspected of crimes.

The father was treated at a nearby hospital and released.

The boy is being held at the Adams County Jail. A hearing is scheduled on Feb. 7 to determine a preliminary hearing.

(AP) — State officials have agreed to consider reducing a Nebraska man’s sentence for playing a role in two cult-related murders in 1985.

The Nebraska Board of Pardons agreed Thursday to hold a commutation hearing in Timothy Haverkamp’s case sometime in the next couple months.

The 51-year-old Haverkamp was paroled in 2009. One of the victims, fellow cult member James Thimm, was beaten, sexually abused, shot and partially skinned while still alive.

Haverkamp is asking the board to commute his sentence so he can be free from supervision. He served 23 years in prison on a sentence of 10 years to life.

After pleading guilty, Haverkamp testified against cult leader Michael Ryan, who remains on Nebraska’s death row. He was also a key witness against Ryan’s son, Dennis Ryan.

(AP) — A Colorado man facing trial in a nationwide breast cancer charity fraud is being jailed after allegations of a similar scam, this one involving college scholarships.

Adam Cole Shryock was the man behind “Boobies Rock” and “Say No 2 Cancer” until a Denver judge issued a temporary restraining order in June.

Now authorities say Shyrock has been sending models out to sell merchandise, ostensibly to raise money for college scholarships.

The Colorado attorney general says a judge ruled Shyrock’s activity violates court orders and he also violated a court-ordered asset freeze.

Shryock was ordered jailed for two weeks for contempt of court.

Shryock’s lawyer says his client has appealed but he’ll turn himself in if the appeals court doesn’t respond before he’s due in jail Friday.

(AP) — A Cedar Bluffs man has been sent to prison in a child sexual assault case.

Saunders County District Court records say 50-year-old Richard Strenger on Monday was sentenced to five years for sexual assault of a child, first offense; 30 to 40 years for attempted sexual assault of a child; and 20 months to five years for felony possession of a controlled substance. The sentences are to be served at the same time. He was credited for 218 days already served.

Prosecutors dropped five other counts in exchange for Strenger’s no-contest and guilty pleas.

Investigators say a child was sexually assaulted at Strenger’s home on several different occasions.