Rashad Trice has been sentenced to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole for the kidnapping and murder of 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith in July of last year. This federal sentence comes on the heels of a life sentence, including 60 to 90 years for the assault on Wynter’s mother, handed down in state court earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker presided over the federal case in Grand Rapids, as reported by the Detroit News.
“This was a senseless tragedy that shook our community to its core,” Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus said, sentiments that pervaded the trial, and with the federal sentencing Trice now faces the doubling down of the justice system's weight for his admitted actions. On July 2, Trice abducted Wynter after assaulting her mother in Lansing, he then took the Toddler to Detroit where he strangled her with a pink cell phone cord, her body was found by investigators three days after an extensive search involving multiple law enforcement agencies, "While nothing can replace the loss of Wynter Cole Smith, I hope today’s sentencing offers some solace to Wynter’s family who have endured unimaginable pain," Backus stated, as obtained by the Detroit News.
Federal prosecutors claimed jurisdiction due to the interstate nature of the crime, explaining that the car and other tools used in the crime were made outside Michigan, a detail covered by AP News. Trice pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death, his plea agreement acknowledged the kidnapping as part of a dispute with Wynter's mother, but the dropped count of kidnapping a minor did little to lessen the mandatory life sentence set before him.
The case also illuminated efforts of coordination across various prosecutorial offices, with contributions from Ingham, Wayne, and Macomb counties which also detailed how the successful pursuit of justice spared a more complex multi-jurisdictional trial and provided some degree of closure without an extended trial, Attorney General Dana Nessel told The Detroit News, "The scars left by Mr. Trice’s horrific and brutal crime spree will forever etch themselves on the lives he shattered."
Trice had a history of violence and as part of the aftermath of his sentencing, has lost parental rights to another child he had with Wynter's mother; lawyers for Trice attempted to draw upon his traumatic upbringing in their defense, but this did not attenuate the court's resolve to impose a sentence intended to prevent any further harm to the community by Trice, as Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, expressed "Rashad Trice will spend the remainder of his life in prison, and we are optimistic this sentencing will serve as a deterrent, preventing another family from enduring the pain experienced by Wynter Cole Smith's family," as reported by the Detroit News.
