A former NFL running back was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the 2019 death of his girlfriend’s 5-year-old daughter.
Cierre Wood, who played in the NFL and CFL, reached a plea deal with prosecutors following charges, accepting charges of second-degree murder and felony child abuse. The child’s mother, Amy Taylor, also pleaded guilty to the same charges earlier this year, the AP reports.
The second-degree murder charge carries a life sentence with a possibility of parole after 10 years. A judge also ordered Wood to serve between 28 months and six years in prison for the child abuse charge, according to the AP.
The 33-year-old Wood spent time with five NFL teams, including a brief stint with the New England Patriots in 2013. Wood was signed to the Patriots practice squad on Nov. 5 and was released on Dec. 26.
The charges stem from the death of 5-year-old La’Rayah Davis, who authorities found dead in Wood’s apartment on April 9, 2019.
According to KSNV in Las Vegas, Wood told police that he made the child do exercises in the apartment and was “trying to get her on the right path due to her being chunky.”
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, autopsies showed the 5-year-old had “at least 100″ bruises and “suffered 20 broken ribs, a lacerated liver, along with contusions on other vital organs.”
“Your heart absolutely breaks and you think, ‘how can somebody be so cruel?’” chief deputy district attorney Dena Rinetti said, via the Review-Journal.
Wood last appeared in the NFL in 2015 with the Buffalo Bills. In 2017, he signed with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and later landed with the Montreal Alouettes. He was released from the Alouettes in May of 2018, marking his final appearance on a professional football roster.
Wood’s attorney told a judge that the former NFL player was now working full-time in the healthcare industry and had been living in Las Vegas for three years, according to the Review-Journal.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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