Christopher Lee’s appeal of his conviction for brutally murdering 19-year-old Erin Corwin of Twentynine Palms received the first of what will most likely be many delays. Yesterday, the judge presiding over the appeal granted the prosecution a 30-day delay in answering Lee’s opening brief for the appeal. Lee’s court-appointed attorney Richard de la Sota argued that the judge in the original case should have instructed the jury that they could have evaluated whether his actions were manslaughter rather than murder. Lee admitted in court that he “snapped” and killed Corwin and dumped her body down a mine shaft because he said she molested his daughter several months earlier. Lee was convicted in November 2016 of Corwin’s murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
