A South Carolina man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the brutal beating death of his girlfriend's son, prosecutors announced.

On Thursday, Kasiem Rashawn Stephens, 32, was convicted on one count each of homicide by child abuse and unlawful neglect of a child by a jury of his peers in a Colleton County courtroom.

The defendant was subsequently sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen to life without the possibility of parole on the homicide count and an additional 10 years on the neglect count, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.

"A little boy's life was cut short at the hands of someone who was supposed to take care of him," 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office Prosecutor Tameaka A. Legette said. "Instead, this child was met with a type of violence that

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