New York -- A New York state judge has ruled against a man who demanded $1.5 million for a kidney he gave his estranged wife before they began divorce proceedings.

Dr. Richard Batista, 49, of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., had sought the return of his kidney or $1.5 million for the organ as part of his divorce settlement with Dawnell Batista, 44, of Massapequa, Newsday reported Thursday.

State Supreme Court marital referee Jeffrey Grob ruled Wednesday that putting a monetary value on a human organ is illegal and could "expose the defendant to criminal prosecution."

"At its core, the defendant's claim inappropriately equates human organs with commodities," Grob as wrote in his 10-page ruling, the New York Daily News reported.

"While the term 'marital property' is elastic and expansive ... its reach, in this court's view, does not stretch into the ethers and embrace ... human tissues or organs."

Seattle -- Part of a lawsuit filed by three former Seattle Supersonics season-ticket holders against the team's owner can go on, a judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones ruled that a breach of contract claim by the fans against former Sonics owner Clay Bennett can advance, and the suit now appears headed for a jury trial, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

If so, a jury will decide whether all 1,200 or so individuals and businesses who renewed their season tickets for the Sonics' final season in Seattle's KeyArena are entitled to damages because the team didn't allow them the opportunity to renew their tickets at the same guaranteed price for the now-canceled following two years, the Post-Intelligencer said.

Bennett moved the team to Oklahoma City after the 2007-08 season following a legal dispute over the team's lease at KeyArena.

Dallas -- A Texas judge Monday delayed a trial intended to establish who owns the window Lee Harvey Oswald perched on when he killed President John F. Kennedy.

Two men claim legal ownership of the infamous "sniper's perch" from the Texas School Book Depository building in Dallas, where Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963. The trial was supposed to begin Monday but one of the men, Aubrey Mayhew -- who had been acting as his own lawyer -- showed up with an attorney who asked for more time to prepare for the case, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Mayhew, 81, of Nashville, bought the book depository in 1970 from Col. D. Harold Byrd, with plans to turn it into a museum. However, Mayhew defaulted on his loan and the colonel repossessed the property, the newspaper said.

San Francisco -- A federal judge tossed much of the evidence prosecutors said would show that baseball star Barry Bonds lied about knowingly using steroids.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled Thursday a jury may not hear about three positive steroid tests, doping calendars and other documents in the former San Francisco slugger's perjury trial, which begins March 2.

Prosecutors contended the tests and other evidence showed Bonds' longtime use of performance-enhancing drugs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

In her ruling, Illston said the evidence was hearsay unless the man who allegedly kept the calendars and arranged the private steroid tests -- Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson -- agrees to testify about the documents.

Anderson, who pleaded guilty in the Bay Area Laboratory Co. steroid conspiracy case, has served a year in prison for contempt of court rather than testify against Bonds.

Houston -- A Houston judge says he had to declare a mistrial in a murder case when no one realized there were too many people on the jury until the verdict was being read.

The error means that Charles Mapps won't be going to prison for shooting his girlfriend, at least until after he stands trial a second time.

Although the 13th juror dutifully sat through the testimony and the 45-minute deliberation, District Judge Mark Ellis said the extra hand could be considered an undue influence.

"In 23 years I've never seen anything like this," Ellis said. "The jurors all seemed pretty upset, but there's no way to un-ring that bell."

The Houston Chronicle said Wednesday that the heat was falling squarely on a substitute bailiff who apparently failed to do anything when the extra juror tried to leave and never informed Ellis about the problem.