A man who killed his girlfriend's 3-year-old son in March at a home on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation has been sentenced to 21 years in prison. Justin Crouse, 30, of Salamanca learned his fate in State Supreme Court Friday morning. Crouse pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August.
Prosecutors say Crouse fatally beat 3-year-old Gage Seneca in the early morning of March 5 when he found the child out of his bed. The boy's mother found him unresponsive in his bed later that morning.
An autopsy later revealed Seneca died from blunt force trauma.
