Rashad Trice had run-ins with the law before 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith was found dead. Here's what we know.
www.freep.com
Matthew Dolan Gina Kaufman Christine MacDonald Krystal Nurse
Detroit Free Press
July 6, 2023
Two years before his arrest in connection with the disappearance of slain toddler Wynter Cole-Smith, Rashad Maleek Trice pleaded guilty to domestic violence after he was charged with assaulting the child's mother, according to court records reviewed by the Free Press.
The 2021 criminal case from Monroe County, which also lists Wynter as a "victim or complainant" in the case, is part of Trice's lengthy and violent history documented inside the state's criminal justice system, records show. Records indicate Trice assaulted Symari Cole, the mother, and do not specify why her daughter is described as a victim in the case.
Trice racked up a number of criminal convictions for his interactions with law enforcement officers in multiple Michigan counties, court records show. His motor vehicle violations led to the state revoking his driver's license last year.
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Cole and Trice had been in a previous relationship, according to authorities and court records. Police said Wynter Cole-Smith is not Trice's biological daughter.
Trice, however, did have a child with Cole, according to his account in a paternity case in Wayne County Circuit Court filed last year. Based on court records, their child would be younger than Wynter Cole-Smith.
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Court records show Trice has had multiple interactions with law enforcement over the last two years, including convictions for assault and domestic violence.
The charges in Monroe County in May 2021 against Trice included assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer and domestic violence against Symari Cole. Trice pleaded guilty to reduced counts of attempted resisting and obstructing law enforcement and the domestic violence charge involving Wynter's mother, court records show.
He was scheduled for sentencing in July of that year, but failed to appear, according to court records. A judge revoked his bond and issued a warrant for his arrest. He may have already been jailed in Livingston County at the time because the county sheriff later sent proof of his incarceration, saying he was at the jail there in August and was scheduled for release in November.
Trice eventually received a sentence of 224 days in jail on each resisting charge and 93 days on the domestic violence, all to be served concurrently.
After an encounter with Michigan State Police on Aug. 10, 2021, Trice was charged in Livingston County with crimes, including fleeing a police officer, assault and resisting or obstructing a police officer. Records show he was convicted and sentenced to at least a 24-month probation term. He was later found to be in violation of his probation and sentenced again on Dec. 22 last year.
Separately, in Clinton County court, in June 2021, he faced three felony counts related to assaulting, resisting or obstructing three law enforcement officers in Bath Township. Court records show he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted assault of a police officer. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail beginning on Aug. 10 of that year, concurrent with any time he was already serving.
The next year, in April 2022, he appeared in court in Lansing on charges of assault and fleeing a law enforcement officer the year prior. Court records in Ingham County indicate he was sentenced to 93 days in jail after pleading guilty to lesser charges.
Trice also had a long history of problems on the road in Detroit, Lincoln Park, Dearborn, Howell and Lansing, according to his state driving record.
He first received his license in July 2014, but it was suspended in August 2019 and revoked in May 2022, records show. Among his driving violations were failing to display a valid license, no proof of insurance, failing to appear in court on related charges and failure to comply with an earlier court judgment.
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On Thursday, in response to the latest arrest, Prosecutor Peter Lucido announced that Trice has been charged in Macomb with fleeing and eluding authorities, attempting to disarm an officer, receiving and concealing a motor vehicle, assault with a dangerous weapon, and resisting and obstructing law enforcement, including counts related to causing injury. He will be arraigned in Macomb County at a future date, prosecutors said.
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