 President Barack Obama has granted the first pardons of his presidency, to nine people convicted of crimes including possessing drugs, counterfeiting and even mutilating coins. "The president was moved by the strength of the applicants' post-conviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin. The people pardoned were: 
 
 _James Bernard Banks, of Liberty, Utah, sentenced to two years of probation in 1972 for illegal possession of government property.
– Proving his mercy isn’t limited to Thanksgiving turkeys, President Obama exercised his pardon power for the first time today to erase the criminal pasts of nine individuals convicted of various crimes, some dating as far back as the 1960s. The most unusual case appeared to be that of a man sentenced to one year of probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins in North Carolina in 1963, reports the Dow Jones news wire via Wall Street Journal. The White House didn't explain that one or any of the others, though AP notes it's a federal offense to deface or otherwise tamper with federal currency. (AP also has a full list of the nine here.) Other offenses included drug possession and counterfeiting. None of the names are well-known.