Trevor Schakohl on December 30, 2022
As part of a plea agreement, Darius Sessoms, 28, of North Carolina, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Thursday for the 2020 murder of a 5-year-old boy.
Cannon Hinnant was shot by Sessoms as he rode his bike outside his father’s Wilson, North Carolina, house, according to a witness. His mother Bonny Parker said Hinnant’s 7-year-old and 8-year-old sisters witnessed the shooting.
It has been reported that Sessoms, who lived next door to Hinnant’s father, accepted an Alford plea, which allows the defendant to maintain his innocence while admitting sufficient prosecutorial evidence to convict him. CBS 17 reported that he was already a felon with multiple prison sentences when he murdered Hinnant.
Sessoms parents’ said he seemed to be hallucinating on the day of the shooting and may have been on drugs, according to The Wilson Times.
“[It] brings us a little bit of peace,” Parker told WRAL Thursday, after previously advocating for a death sentence. “Knowing that we are walking out of here today and we don’t have to come back. We don’t have to see him. My girls do not have to testify in court. That was the whole reason why he took this plea. It was best for him to take this plea so it would not have to get our girls up there.”
Sessoms’ girlfriend when the killing took place, Aolani Pettit, received a four to 14-month suspended sentence and 18 months of supervised probation after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in the case, the outlet reported.
Man Gets Life In Prison For Murdering 5-Year-Old As Siblings Watched
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