UPDATE FRIDAY AUG. 16, 2024
- A judge sentenced Rashad Trice to life in prison without the possibilty of parole.
- Trice admitted to murdering two-year old Wynter Cole Smith in July 2023
- Video shows Smith's grandfather giving victim impact statements and the judge handing down Trice's sentence
A Lansing family received justice Friday morning after the man responsible for the murder of a toddler was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk sentenced Rashad Trice to life in prison without parole for the July 2023 murder of two-year-old Wynter Cole Smith.
The case closes a painful chapter in the Smith family that opened July 2, 2023 when Smith was reported missing after an assault occured between Trice and Smith's mother in an apartment in Lansing.
Trice was arrested three days later and Wynter's body found later that evening in an alley in Detroit.
Earlier this summer Trice plead guilty to one count of First Degree Murder and one count of First Degree Criminal Sexual Assault. Trice admitted to assaulting Smith's mother before kidnapping and murdering the two-year-old.
PHOTO: ELMONT SMITH, WYNTER'S PATERNAL GRANDFATHER, WIPES AWAY TEARS MOMENTS BEFORE HE READS VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT'S IN RASHAD TRICE'S SENTENCING HEARING FRIDAY MORNING
Smith's paternal grandfather, Elmont Smith, read victim impact statements in court on behalf of family members who couldn't attend Friday's sentencing hearing.
PHOTO: ELMONT SMITH READS VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS WHILE RASHAD TRICE LOOKS ON VIA ZOOM DURING TRICE'S SENTENCING HEARING FRIDAY MORNING
"I don't hate you but I hate what you've done," Smith said. "You took someone special from me: my only grandchild."
Trice declined to give a statement via Zoom during Friday's hearing.
PHOTO: ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL DANIELLE RUSSO BENNETTS READS VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS FOR FAMILY MEMBERS NOT ATTENDING RASHAD TRICE'S SENTENCING HEARING FRIDAY MORNING
Judge Draganchuk said Trice will spend 60 to 90 years in the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections. Trice is also required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to lifetime electronic monitoring should he be released.
ORIGINAL STORY
Rashad Trice was sentenced Friday morning to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith in 2023.
Trice previously pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder of the toddler and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the assault of her mother.
According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Trice sexually assaulted and stabbed his former girlfriend before kidnapping her daughter Wynter in Lansing on July 2, 2023.
WATCH: Rashad Trice pleads guilty in court.
The little girl was later found dead in a Detroit alley after a three-day search.
“The scars left by Mr. Trice’s horrific and brutal crime spree will forever etch themselves on the lives he shattered,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. “While nothing can ever fully heal the grief of Wynter’s family and loved ones, I hope today’s plea can be a step toward healing.”
First-degree murder has a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
FOX47 News will be updating this story throughout the day.
