LAS VEGAS — A former professional football player was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the April 2019 death of his girlfriend’s 5-year-old daughter in a Las Vegas apartment.
The sentencing came after Cierre Wood, a former NFL and Canadian Football League player, reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder and felony child abuse, judicial records show.
Wood, 33, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years on the murder charge.
Clark County District Court Judge Jacqueline Bluth also ordered him to serve 28 months to six years on a child abuse charge. He must serve the sentences consecutively.
According to a copy of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the remaining felony child abuse charges initially filed against Wood.
The former player entered what is known as an Alford plea, a formal admission of guilt in criminal court that allows the defendant to continue to assert his innocence.
The Associated Press sent an email to his attorney on Tuesday seeking comment.
Wood played for three teams in the NFL and the University of Notre Dame before brief stints with the Montreal Alouettes in Canada.
Court records show the girl’s mother, Amy Taylor, 31, also pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder and felony child abuse as part of a deal with prosecutors.
The coroner’s office in Las Vegas said the girl, La’Rayah Davis, died April 9, 2019, from blunt force injuries.