Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty, Jr. announces that 47-year-old Kevin Schwartz of Buffalo has pleaded guilty before Erie County Court Judge Thomas P. Franczyk to Manslaughter in the First Degree in the death of a Cheektowaga man. 

On July 6, 2015, while committing a burglary inside the home of 67-year-old Lawrence Cassata, at 1082 Walden Avenue, the defendant fatally beat the victim. 

Schwartz faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 28, 2016 at 2 p.m. by Judge Franczyk. 

Acting DA Flaherty would like to thank the Cheektowaga Police Department for its investigation into this homicide, especially Patrolmen Jason West, Jacob Wodowski, Lieutenant Thomas Wentland, and Detectives Timothy Szymanski and David Mossman. 

Assistant District Attorneys Gary W. Hackbush and Meghan E. Leydecker prosecuted the case.