GREENSBORO, N.C. — North Carolina is not looking to seek the death penalty against the man accused of shooting and killing a Speedway gas station employee.
Attorneys said the suspect, Avion Bell, will be tried for first-degree murder and subject to life without the possibility of parole.
The district attorney considered the evidence and weighed any potential aggravating factors before determining that the case should proceed non-capitally.
Bell has a criminal record dating back to 2019. That year he was convicted of a string of robberies and assaulting a school employee.
Prosecutors gave Bell a plea deal that reduced his previous violent crimes to lesser charges allowing him to walk free due to the lack of evidence before he was accused of killing 72-year-old Patricia Grant.