Yutan man gets prison in deer hunter shooting

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BY JOE DUGGAN / Lincoln Journal Star

Lee Koenig turned to the people in the courtroom Monday and apologized for killing their son, their brother, their father.

The 51-year-old Yutan man also told the family of Russell Christiansen that the shooting almost a year ago killed a man he considered a friend.

Then District Judge Mary Gilbride sentenced Koenig to 19 to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, concluding a bizarre case of mistaken identity.

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Lee Koenig

Lee Koenig

Koenig claimed that when he fired the high-powered rifle on Nov. 17, he thought his friend was a coyote. Christiansen, 47, had been deer hunting on an acreage near Yutan owned by Koenig’s brother.

Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff said Monday he felt the sentence was appropriate. Koenig faced a maximum of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in August.

“It was a senseless, horrific act,” Tingelhoff said. “It has created a huge void in a lot of lives.”

The judge gave Koenig credit for 324 days in jail since his arrest last November. That means he could be eligible for parole after serving about 8½ years in prison, said Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz, who attended Monday’s hearing.

During his brief statement, Koenig offered no explanation for how he mistook Christiansen for a wild dog.

Koenig, who has a drug conviction in his past, denied having been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the prosecutor said. But he also refused to undergo a toxicology screening at the time of his arrest, Tingelhoff added.

What makes the shooting hard to comprehend as an accident is the fact that Koenig knew Christiansen was on the property. In fact, after Christiansen’s 15-year-old son had shot a deer, Christiansen returned to the house and told Koenig where he was going to look for the wounded animal.

Shortly after the conversation, Koenig fired the fatal shot from a .270-caliber rifle while on the home’s second-story deck. Even more baffling, the rifle was outfitted with a scope sight.

Koenig and Christiansen, a butcher who worked in Omaha, became friends years ago through their sons, who are school buddies. The boys, now teenagers, have remained friends since the shooting.

Christiansen was a father of two daughters and one son. Koenig is a single father of two sons.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com