A lawyer planned to ask a federal judge on Friday to reject a call for almost three years of prison time and instead give probation to a Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to siphoning $650,000 over eight years from his northwest Las Vegas parish gift shop, votive candle collection and prayer funds to support his gambling habit.

In documents filed in advance of sentencing, Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe's attorney asks U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan to let McAuliffe, 59, continue getting counseling for a gambling addiction, keep practicing as a priest and pay restitution to his parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Summerlin.

As an ordained priest, McAuliffe will "continue to atone for his wrongdoing as he carries on with his life-long obligations and service" to the church, attorney Margaret Stanish said in Jan. 6 documents. She quoted excerpts from some of about 100 letters of support from supporters and parishioners at one of the largest church congregations in Nevada.

Nevada's Supreme Court has reached a milestone this week after hitting its 60,000th case.

Court officials say Monday that the distinction went to an appeal in a complex homeowner's association case with 74 defendants.

Supreme Court officials say that filings at the Nevada's only appellate court have been growing rapidly as the state's population has increased.

It took 112 years of statehood for the court to hit 10,000 cases. That milestone came Aug. 12, 1977.

But it took just more than four years to accrue the most recent 10,000 cases. The court hit 50,000 cases in August 2007.

Chief Justice Nancy Saitta says the number of cases is memorable, but also points to a backlog that delays resolving the legal matters.

A political aide to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to use election-day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to influence or attempt to influence a voter's decision whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an authority line. A stoic Schurick comforted his wife in the courtroom after the Baltimore jury's verdict was read, but declined to comment.

His attorney, A. Dwight Pettit, said they will appeal.

Prosecutors argued the calls that went out on the evening of Election Day to about 110,000 voters in Baltimore city and Prince George's County — two jurisdictions with high percentages of black voters — were an effort by the Republican campaign to reduce the number of black Democrats voting in heavily Democratic Maryland.

A federal appeals court did not immediately rule Wednesday whether hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam must report to prison next week for an 11-year sentence for insider trading, the longest term ever given for the crime.

Attorney Patricia Millett told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that Rajaratnam should remain free on bail while the appeals court hears a challenge to his conviction in the biggest insider trading case in history.

Rajaratnam, 54, was sentenced in October after his conviction this year on charges that he engaged in insider trading from 2003 through October 2009 at the Galleon Group of hedge funds that he founded. Prosecutors said insider trading schemes involved the stocks of at least 19 different public companies and resulted in at least $70 million in illegal gains.

Rajaratnam was also ordered to forfeit $53.8 million and to pay a $10 million fine.

Millett said court papers filed to secure wiretaps that provided evidence crucial to his conviction were improperly made, raising a substantial question of law that entitles him to remain free until the appeals court hears the case sometime next year.

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a 2010 state law imposing restrictions on strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the court rejected claims from the adult entertainment industry that the law infringed on free expression rights and was passed in violation of legislative procedures.

The court said there was enough evidence to support the Legislature's belief that the restrictions served a government interest in minimizing negative effects from sexually oriented businesses.

The law requires sexually themed businesses to close by midnight. It also bans full nudity, alcohol, minors and touching between semi-nude employees and customers.

The Supreme Court's ruling affirms a prior decision by a Cole County judge.