(WWJ) – Rashad Trice, the Detroit man accused of kidnapping and killing a 2-year-old Lansing girl this summer, will not face the death penalty.
In a one-page document filed Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids, U.S. Attorney Mark Totten says the feds will not seek the death penalty against Trice, who is accused of kidnapping 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith.
The toddler was later found dead in a Detroit alley, days after she was taken from her mother’s home in Lansing and her mother was sexually assaulted and stabbed. Authorities allege Trice strangled the girl with a phone cord.
Trice, 27, has been charged federally with kidnapping a minor and kidnapping resulting in death. While Michigan abolished the death penalty more than a century ago, the fact that the case was under federal jurisdiction meant he was eligible to be sentenced to death.
Authorities did not immediately provide further explanation Thursday as to why the death sentence will not be sought.
In addition to federal charges, Trice is also facing 20 charges at the state level, including first-degree murder and felony murder.