North Carolina does have the death penalty but it is rarely used.
The last person executed in North Carolina was Samuel Flippen, who was put to death on Aug. 18, 2006 for the murder of his 2-year-old stepdaughter.
We still have some prisoners on death row -- many for decades with no further action being taken.
Prosecutors in our state are not apt to ask for the death penalty because it immediately causes the case to become more expensive and more difficult to convict (due to money raised by the defense in these high profile cases). There is also the reality that the prisoner will be on death row for years with many appeals (all costing money) and will not likely be executed in the end.
This crime occurred in Wilson -- the county seat of Wilson County. There has been no recent (in decades) death penalty case in Wilson County to my knowledge. In fact the county was racked with controversy about an old death penalty case which was overturned in 2019 -
Freed after 43 years in prison, man files lawsuit saying he was framed by Wilson sheriff's office. Due to all of this I doubt the Wilson County DAs office will pursue a death penalty case for this murder of Cannon Hinnant.