North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has commuted what have been lengthy sentences served by six criminal offenders in state prisons — five of whom were convicted of murder — and granted pardons to two others. One such pardon was issued to Mark Crotts, who was once convicted of murdering an elderly Alamance County couple in 1990.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if an Idaho white supremacist gang member is convicted of killing a man while he was on the run after shooting officers in a plot to help a fellow gang member escape from prison. Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman announced Thursday that the death penalty would be sought if Nicholas Umphenour is convicted of a murder charge in the March death of James Mauney, 83, of Juliaetta, KHQ-TV reported.