A western Nebraska man says the 70-year sentence he received for murdering his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter is excessive.

Donald Lee's attorney has filed an appeal questioning the prison sentence he received after pleading guilty to second-degree murder to avoid the death penalty.

The Sutherland man also argues in his appeal that he's in prison because he couldn't afford his own lawyer.

Officials have not released details about the 2008 killing, but an autopsy showed Ashlynn Gamble was strangled, her skull was fractured and she had several lacerations and contusions.

The Lincoln County judge who sentenced Lee called the girl's murder one of the most brutal, heartless crimes he'd handled during his quarter century on the bench.