COLUMBUS - Five federal appeals court judges say a convicted killer's request to delay his execution was illegally denied because two senior judges participated in the vote.

Four judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday added their names to a fifth judge's dissenting opinion in the case of condemned inmate Lewis Williams, executed Wednesday in Lucasville.

Federal law allows senior judges to participate in a vote by the full court only if the judges participated in the initial panel ruling on the same case, said the five judges.

Judge Eric Clay was the first to call the vote illegal, in an opinion Tuesday as the court ruled against blocking Williams' execution.

Williams, 45, struggled with guards and pleaded for help until the end Wednesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was sentenced to death for shooting a Cleveland woman in a 1983 robbery.

The four judges who added their names Thursday: Boyce Martin of Louisville; Martha Craig Daughtrey of Nashville, Tenn.; Karen Nelson Moore of Cleveland; and Guy Cole of Columbus.

Woman found guilty of lottery-ticket lie

SOUTH EUCLID - A woman who said she lost a $162 million Mega Millions lottery ticket when she dropped her purse was convicted Thursday of lying about it on a police report.

Elecia Battle, 40, of Cleveland, pleaded no contest to the charge in South Euclid Municipal Court and was found guilty by Judge Patricia Ann Kleri.

The no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but means the defendant will not fight the charges. Battle faces a possible penalty of 30 days to six months in jail and $1,000 fine at sentencing Feb. 19.

Lawmakers, top judge want pay-raise panel

INDIANAPOLIS - The legislative leadership of both political parties and the state's top judge support legislation that could ultimately result in pay raises for themselves.

The bill would create a commission to increase salaries for judges and legislators, but would not result in immediate pay raises, lawmakers said, because the state faces a $1 billion deficit.

Patient goes home with new heart device

LOUISVILLE - An experimental heart device implanted in his chest let David Vensel live through Christmas and play with his three great-grandchildren again.

Vensel, a retired Louisville police officer, is only the second person to go home after receiving the Arrow LionHeart, a heart-assist device that is fully implanted in the body.

"I'm just tickled to death that I'm here," said Vensel, who received the device Oct. 28 at Jewish Hospital. "There are people who don't get the opportunity to do what I did."

Vensel, 69, returned home on Dec. 24 - in time for a big family Christmas - and has had little trouble with the device since.