Ex-NFL running back Cierre Wood sentenced to life in prison after murder, child abuse plea

Posted by author August 14, 2024 NFL

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Former NFL and Canadian Football League running back Cierre Wood was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors over the April 2019 death of his girlfriend’s 5-year old daughter in his Las Vegas apartment, according to a report.

The Associated Press reported that Wood, 33, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 10 years after he pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder and felony child abuse. Per the AP, Clark County District Court Judge Jacqueline Bluth ordered that Wood also serve between 28 months and six years for the felony child abuse charge, served consecutively.

La’Rayah Davis was found lifeless in Wood’s apartment April 9, 2019, after she and her mother, Amy Taylor, moved in with Wood fewer than two weeks earlier. In June 2019, Wood and Taylor were indicted on murder and 20 felony child abuse charges.

At the time of the investigation, Wood and Taylor both admitted to police that they used exercise and physical punishment as discipline. An autopsy revealed that Davis had 20 newly broken ribs, internal bleeding, a lacerated liver and bruises to her heart, diaphragm and connective tissue.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the remaining felony child abuse charges Wood was facing, the Associated Press reported. Wood entered an Alford plea, which is when a defendant maintains their innocence regarding a charge or charges to which they are offering to plea guilty.

The AP reported that Taylor earlier this year also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and felony child abuse as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Wood played in the NFL for the Houston Texans, New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills from 2013-15. He also played for the University of Notre Dame. After his NFL career, he had a brief stint with the Montreal Alouettes in Canada.