Former NFL player Claus Wood has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend’s five-year-old daughter in 2019.
Wood, a former running back who spent time with the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills, reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Earlier this year, the 33-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse in the April 2019 death at a Las Vegas apartment.
Wood, who also played in the Canadian Football League, was sentenced to life in prison. with the possibility of parole after 10 years on the murder charge.
La’Ryah Davis was found unconscious in her mother’s home on April 9, 2019. She later died in hospital due to a combination of brutal injuries.
Closing Wood has been sentenced to life in prison for the death of his girlfriend’s daughter
La’Ryah Davis was found unconscious at her mother’s home and later died at the hospital.
Before her death, according to a police report at the time, Wood forced La’Ryah to “run short sprints around the apartment, do sit-ups and wall squats” because he thought she was overweight.
Police said in 2019 that Wood told them he was “trying to get her on the right path because of her fatness,” News 3 reported.
The police report also stated that Taylor once sat on her daughter’s chest and stomach as a form of punishment.
Court records show the boy’s mother, Amy Taylor, 31, also pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder and child abuse as part of a deal with prosecutors.
His mother, Amy Taylor (left), cried in court as she heard the injuries reported by the coroner.
Wood (left) and Taylor (right) were arrested and charged by Las Vegas police in 2019.
An autopsy performed by the Clark County Coroner’s Office determined the five-year-old girl had suffered a lacerated liver, broken ribs and “multiple skull contusions” at the time of her death.
Judge Jacqueline Bluth also ordered Wood to serve between 28 months and six years in prison on the child abuse charge. He will serve the sentences consecutively.
According to a copy of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the remaining felony child abuse charges they had initially filed against Wood.
He entered what is known as an Alford plea, a formal admission of guilt in criminal court that allows the defendant to continue to claim innocence.
Wood played for the University of Notre Dame before brief stints in the NFL with three teams and the Montreal Alouettes in Canada.
