Former NFL player sentenced to jail for the death of 5-year-old girl in Las Vegas

A former professional football player has been sentenced to prison for the death of his girlfriend’s 5-year-old daughter in April 2019. Cierre Wood, a former NFL and Canadian Football League running back, agreed to a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and felony child abuse. The sentencing was handed down in a Las Vegas court, where Wood received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 10 years for the murder charge. Additionally, he was ordered to serve between 28 months and six years for the child abuse charge, with the sentences to be served consecutively.

In the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the remaining felony counts of child abuse that were originally filed against Wood. He entered an Alford plea, a formal declaration of guilt in criminal court while still asserting innocence. Wood, who played for the University of Notre Dame and had brief stints in the NFL with three teams, as well as the Montreal Alouettes in Canada, did not provide a comment through his lawyer following the sentencing.

Amy Taylor, the child’s mother, also pleaded guilty earlier in the year to second-degree murder and felony child abuse as part of a similar deal with prosecutors. The coroner’s office in Las Vegas reported that the child, La’Rayah Davis, died on April 9, 2019, due to blunt force injuries.