A Mount Morris man will spend 25 years to life in prison for murder in connection with the death of a toddler last summer.

Frank Cassata, 49, was sentenced on several counts, including murder, vehicular manslaughter, and DWI.

Amir Pallet, 3, was struck and killed after Cassata purposely drove his car into the porch of a home on Lyell Avenue last June. He was later arrested at another crash scene on Lake Avenue.

Prosecutors say the proof was overwhelming and the case was emotional.

"I had one other case in my career that involved the death of a child and circumstances like this, and it doesn't get any easier and it's certainly never going to get easier for Mrs. Benitez, I mean this was horrible," said Perry Duckles, prosecutor.

"There's not really a mechanism in our judicial system for people to express remorse. They don't provide for anything like that, which is unfortunate, perhaps, I mean, people who are involved think, ‘well this guy doesn't care about anything, he doesn't have any remorse,’ and that's simply not true," said Donald Thompson, defense attorney.

Thompson plans to file an appeal.

Cassata has already spent 11 years in prison on prior felony convictions.