Estherville, Iowa — An Estherville man, convicted in a 2015 rural Emmet County murder case, has filed an appeal of his conviction.
Online court records show that Lee Christensen filed the appeal late last week.
Christensen was convicted of 2nd Degree Murder this past summer in the June, 2015 shooting death of 19-year old Thomas Bortvit of Estherville. The judge in the case sentenced Christensen to 50 years in prison. According to Iowa law, he must serve 85 percent of his sentence, or 42-1/2 years before being eligible for parole. Christensen is currently serving his sentence at the state penitentiary in Anamosa, pending his appeal.
