A case that began in July 2023 with the search for kidnapped 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith and attracted national attention in Michigan ended Friday with a Lansing court sentencing 27-year-old Rashad Trice to life in prison for the murder and sexual abuse of her mother.
On July 2, 2023, Trice sexually abused his ex-girlfriend, Cole-Smith’s mother, stabbed her, and kidnapped the two-year-old girl, who was found dead in a Detroit alley after a three-day search, strangled with a telephone cord.
It was an unimaginable hatred in Trice that led to that fateful day, said the girl’s paternal grandfather, Almount Smith, in his victim impact statement on Friday. A hatred that leaves everyone who loved the two-year-old wondering “why.”
“Why was my baby…my little angel used as collateral?” Smith told Trice, who appeared via Zoom. “They took away a special person from me, my only grandchild.”
Cole-Smith was a toddler full of love, her maternal grandmother, Willeen Cannon, said in a statement read in court by Michigan Assistant Attorney General Danielle Russo Bennetts. She even loved Trice, who was not her father but had played a role in her life.
“This act of pure evil committed by Rashad is irreversible in its effects and cannot be forgiven. My granddaughter’s life was taken before she even had a chance to know who she was, use the potty (and) say complete sentences,” Cannon’s statement said. “Rashad took her life like an animal, just as a four-legged animal takes the young of other wild animals.”
In addition to Friday’s sentencing in Lansing, where the judge sentenced Trice to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Trice will be sentenced later this month in a federal trial for the incident, in which federal prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.
Michigan state courts do not impose the death penalty, and Cannon says that limitation does not reflect what Trice deserves.
“I believe the death penalty would be a wake-up call for many criminals. I truly wanted the death penalty for Rashad, but I welcome the sentence he received today. Rashad has no place in the outside world because of the crime he committed. He would only destroy more lives if given the opportunity,” Cannon said in his statement.
Trice was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the harshest sentence Michigan courts can impose and appropriate for someone who took domestic violence to unimaginable levels and shows no remorse, Russo Bennetts said.
“Anyone who deals with domestic violence and intimate partner violence sees situations escalate all the time, but I think it’s very rare that it gets to this level of escalation,” Russo Bennetts said. “To have that level of escalation to the point of that level of violence against a partner and then the kidnapping of the child, the brutal, unimaginable loss of a child, then battles with police and the endangerment and danger to the community, and just the escalation of that level of violence and that level of loss in this case… there are very few cases where a life sentence without parole makes sense, and that’s this case.”
Trice faced 20 charges in multiple counties for Cole-Smith’s kidnapping and murder because he was a notorious violent offender who had a history of run-ins with police.
Finally, in July, Trice agreed to the indictment and reduced the charges to first-degree murder and first-degree sexual abuse, with the murder charge carrying a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Keith Watson, the Ingham County public defender who is representing Trice, told the court that this was the first and hopefully last time he stood by someone and let them plead guilty when they were facing a life sentence.
“I certainly would not recommend that to any client and I have not done so in this case… I can tell you that this was Mr. Trice’s independent decision and my team and I have prepared for trial,” Watson said.
Everyone involved will suffer for the rest of their lives, Watson said. Trice is also affected because he suffers from an attachment disorder that affects his ability to make decisions.
Although nothing can bring the two-year-old girl back, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement Friday that it was some consolation for the girl’s family not to have to go through a lengthy trial
“Thanks to the tireless work of law enforcement and prosecutors in my office, the man responsible for these horrific acts will never endanger our communities again,” Nessel said.
Cole-Smith came from a large family of kind and caring people who understood social responsibility and compassion, said her paternal grandmother, Sharen Eddings, in a statement read by Russo Bennetts.
“Wynter was better than you then, she is better than you now, she will always be better than you,” Eddings wrote to Trice. “But for our family, it is time to hold our heads up, take a breath and begin the painful healing process.”
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