To keep tabs on the criminal case, use the new ePortal, and input Mundy, Cody: https://portal-nc.tylertech.cloud/Portal/Home/Dashboard/29.
Because it's a Madison County case, you won't be able to access anything about it online until MadCo is transitioned into the ePortal system, which is happening this coming Monday (July 21). Once the ePortal system is up and running for MadCo, you can input the case number here to receive notifications of court dates: https://www3.nccourts.org/onlineservices/notifications/menu.sp
A quick look at what's available on there about the defendant already shows that he's in debt more than $7,000 for a 2015 judgment against him to the tune of $4,000 which he's failed to make any payments on; and that he was evicted in 2019 from the home he and his family lived in, and then moved just around the corner into a mobile home. But no prior criminal record - the lone traffic ticket for not wearing his seatbelt is just an infraction - so he is unlikely to serve any time in jail at all.
To the extent that money damages can provide any recompense for this wretched loss of life, the families will be able to obtain insurance payouts and can file civil suit and would likely get a judgment against the defendant and perhaps the owner of the truck. But depending on what assets are available to satisfy those judgments, their legal fees could very likely outweigh any return they'd receive - the defendant certainly doesn't have any funds, and the owner is reportedly a younger individual without very deep reserves.
In my experience, satisfying outcomes are not available through the court system - it's just the stopgap when all else fails. When a defendant goes to jail, with rare exception, their incarceration doesn't improve the experience of the victims or of the convicted. Our penal system doesn't focus on rehabilitation and so the person who goes in is the same who comes out, but usually worse for wear. And that person is then once again back in society, returned to whatever circumstances and choices led them to their antisocial conduct to begin with.
That said, there should be more serious penalties for taking the life of a cyclist, in the hopes that it would serve as deterrence, both generally to all motorists and to a specific defendant. For that to change, we'd have to advocate with legislators and build a groundswell of people large enough to overcome the inertia of the status quo. Anyone who's paying attention to our legislature knows that's an effort with very long odds. And then we'd have to prevail on District Attorney's to prosecute those more serious charges.
Perhaps more achievable are efforts being spearheaded by Adam, the owner of On Your Bike in Marshall, of being in the ear of all the stakeholders who have sway over improving the safety of that road, of installing rumble strips in the center lane, of reducing the max speed, of perhaps changing access to the landfill and securing funding for more protected bike lanes: https://www.instagram.com/p/DL-zC_9hVcA/
I write this as someone who is an attorney, previously a public defender outside of NC, and am still in the middle of litigating and dealing with the fallout from a drunk driver plowing into my family in Pennsylvania over a year ago and grievously injuring my elderly parents. I'm also a regular cyclist in MadCo, though I usually ride alone and in the more rural parts of the county. My heart goes out to the cyclist's families for their loss and the added heartbreak of witnessing how ineffective the law is to respond to this crime.
Lastly, this outfit usually has the most detailed and accurate summation of the law in this area: https://www.bikelaw.com/2024/01/bikes-criminal-justice/ and this recounting of what appears to be the first instance of punitive damages for distracted driving that resulted in a cyclist death in NC provides significant insight into that process: https://www.bikelaw.com/2019/01/death-by-distracted-driving/