PITTSBORO -- Barbara Turrentine Clark pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree murder for killing two elderly women who employed her as a housekeeper, striking a plea deal that averted a possible death sentence.

Superior Court Judge Howard Manning sentenced Clark, 42, to two consecutive life sentences in prison without parole for the beating deaths of Mary Corcoran, 82, and Margaret Murta, 92, in December 2007 at Fearrington Village's Galloway Ridge retirement community between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro.

Investigators said that Clark pepper-sprayed and beat the women with a cane after they confronted her about stolen and forged checks. The women's neighbor, Rebecca Fisher, then 77, also was beaten in the attack. Clark pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in the beating of Fisher and to obtaining property by false pretenses.

At Monday's sentencing hearing, Manning said the autopsy photos of Corcoran and Murta confirmed this was one of the most brutal crimes he's seen in 40 years of practicing law.

District Attorney Jim Woodall announced earlier this year that he intended to seek the death penalty for Clark. But the prosecution agreed not to seek a death sentence in exchange for Clark's guilty plea.

Courtroom observers struggled to hear Clark's hushed voice as she offered brief answers to Manning's questions from the bench. Her sister, Julie Stephens, said in court that she hoped Clark received help for her mental problems in prison.

"Wherever you are, I'm always going to be there for you," Stephens told her sister. "My love is unconditional."

-- Jesse James DeConto, 932-8760; jesse.deconto@nando.com

Judge lowers bail for suspect in Bailey case

HILLSBOROUGH -- Superior Court Judge Carl Fox lowered the bail for Gregory Minton from $1 million to $100,000 Monday.

Minton, 41, is charged with acting as an accessory to first-degree murder after the fact in connection with the slaying of Joshua McCabe Bailey, 20, of Chapel Hill.

District Attorney Jim Woodall said Minton visited the scene of the shooting sometime in August. Authorities say he advised his son Brian and five other murder suspects about how to hide Bailey's body.

Minton's wife, Mishele, who is also charged as an accessory, will have her own bond hearing at 9:30 a.m. today.

Bailey's body was discovered last month near Jordan Lake in Chatham County. Investigators say he was shot and buried in a shallow grave off Twisted Oak Drive in Chapel Hill and then the body was moved to a second burial site in Chatham County.

Minton's lawyer argued Minton had to tend to his business and care for his 14-year-old son.

For the latest on this story, see www.newsobserver.com/news/orange

-- Jesse James DeConto, 932-8760; jesse.deconto@nando.com

Two-day dental clinic could serve hundreds

HILLSBOROUGH -- The UNC School of Dentistry will sponsor a two-day clinic in Hillsborough on Friday and Saturday that could provide free dental care for as many as several hundred patients.

The clinic, to be held at the Big Barn Convention Center, is in partnership with the N.C. Missions of Mercy portable free dental program, a branch of the Open Door Dental Clinic of Alamance County.

Patients will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis each day, with registration beginning at 6 a.m.

Students and faculty members from the School of Dentistry and other practitioners will provide patient care, with assistance from school staff members as well. Students, through the school's student-led volunteer organization ENNEAD, are largely coordinating the event.

The clinic will be the first event planned with this level of student coordination at the School of Dentistry -- "from planning stages all the way through to the finish," said Dr. Steven D. Slott, founder and president of the Open Door Dental Clinic.

The school's Dental Alumni Association is providing funding for the clinic, and community groups are providing food and other assistance.

-- From staff reports