Adam Sterling convicted, sentenced to life for murder of Leo Kohorst

​Adam Sterling, the 24-year old man on trial for the murder of October 2010 murder of his landlord, Leo Kohorst, was convicted by a Hennpin County jury this morning of first- and second-degree murder. A couple hours later, the jury came back with a life sentence for the murder.

Sterling was found guilty for the brutal attack on Kohorst, his 22-year-old landlord, in which investigators determined Kohorst had been struck at least 22 times by a blunt instrument.

The fatal assault was the fallout of an ongoing dispute between Kohorst and Sterling, which stemmed in part from arguments over Sterling's repeated breaking of Kohorst's rules, including smoking in the house. Before he was murdered, Kohorst had threatened to evict Sterling, according to the complaint from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

The case garnered a bit of sensational coverage at its infancy, especially when it was revealed that Sterling sometimes dressed in drag.

As an example, in the Star Tribune's initial news story posted to its website, the headline read, "Murder charge: Mpls. man hit 22 times in head; cross-dressing suspect's clothes missing."

Among the key pieces of evidence which originally linked Sterling to Kohorst's murder were the specks of blood found on the high heeled shoes Sterling had worn earlier that day.

According to the complaint, the injuries to Kohorst's head were so extensive, investigators initially thought he had been "caused by a shotgun blast."