JOSHUA TREE, Calif. (AP) - A discharged Marine has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of a friend's toddler daughter near a military base in the Southern California desert.
The San Bernardino Sun reports Joshua Kruzik received the sentence in a Joshua Tree court on Friday.
A jury in September found Kruzik guilty of second-degree murder and assault on a child resulting in death.
Prosecutors said Kruzik was a corporal at New River Air Station in North Carolina when he fatally stuck 18-month-old Audrey Allen to make her stop crying.
The San Bernardino County coroner later determined the child died of blunt force trauma.
Kruzik, who was training in the Southern California desert, had agreed to babysit the toddler for her parents, who were fellow Marines.
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