Sometimes you have to lock ’em up and throw away the key when the crime is so heinous that there is no rehabilitation for such an act.
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.
Cierre Wood Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murder Of 5-Year-Old La’Ryah Davis
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.
Some feel the punishment is not enough.
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.
Wood, who played for the University of Notre Dame before brief NFL stints with three teams and in the Canadian Football league, was given a life term with the possibility of parole after 10 years for the murder charge.
What Caused Death Of La’Ryah Davis?
La’Ryah Davis’ body was found unresponsive at her mother’s home on April 9, 2019. She later died in the hospital from a combination of brutal injuries. She had at least 100 bruises on her body, 20 broken ribs, a lacerated liver and contusions on other vital organs, authorities said.
La’Ryah and her mother Amy Taylor moved in with Wood only a few weeks prior to her death.
Before her death, according to a police report at the time, Wood forced La’Ryan to “run sprints in the apartment, do sit-ups and wall squats” because he thought she was overweight.
In June 2019, Wood and Taylor were indicted on murder and 20 felony child abuse charges.
Police said back in 2019 that Wood told them he was “trying to get her on the right path due to her being chunky,’ News 3 reported.
Court records show that the child’s mother, Amy Taylor, 31, was not a victim in the disgusting turn of events. The police report also claimed that Taylor once sat on her daughter’s chest and stomach as a form of punishment.
She also pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder and felony child abuse as part of a deal with prosecutors.
How Badly Did Cierre Wood and Amy Taylor Abuse La’Ryah Davis?
An autopsy conducted by the Clark County Coroner’s Office determined the 5-year-old had suffered a lacerated liver, broken ribs and “multiple skull contusions” at the time of her death.
In addition to the murder, Judge Jacqueline Bluth also ordered Wood to serve between 28 months and six years for the child abuse charge, to be served consecutively.
“Your heart absolutely breaks, and you think, ‘how can somebody be so cruel?’” Chief Deputy District Attorney Dena Rinetti said, via the Review-Journal.
According to a copy of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the remaining felony counts of child abuse that they initially had filed against Wood. He entered what is known as an Alford plea, a formal admission of guilt in criminal court that allows a defendant to still claim innocence.
