A college baseball pitcher hit in the face by a line drive during batting practice assumed the risk of injury and cannot sue his school, a New York appeals court has ruled, saying it was “irrelevant” that a protection screen was not used to shield the pitcher.

Ambitious plans for three new law schools in New York — two public and one private — have stalled in the face of an ailing economy, state government budget woes and doubts about whether there are enough legal jobs to support the new schools in addition to the 15 existing ones.

Four men were convicted Monday of conspiring in 2009 to bomb two New York synagogues and fire missiles at military cargo planes in Newburgh, N.Y. Eight days into deliberations, the jury emerged to confirm that prosecutors had beaten back an aggressive entrapment defense based on an FBI sting and won the convictions of James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen. All four face life in prison when they are sentenced on March 24 by Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon.

Alan Kitchin, the head of Clifford Chance’s corporate and projects practice in its Tokyo office, has been charged by British authorities with punching his longtime lover in the face at a Scottish resort. The Sunday Mail of Scotland reports that Kitchin, 56, denied punching Misato Yoshida in the face when the two were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, on June 4. Despite the denial, Kitchin was arrested and charged with assaulting Yoshida

Georgia was lauded four years ago by conservatives for passing one of the nation’s toughest sex offender laws. But the state has had to significantly scale back its once-intense restrictions in the face of legal challenges. Previously, all registered sex offenders were banned from living within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and other places where children gather.