Defense in trial of China scholar's brutal death: He did it

Source: Associated Press

Michael Tarm, Ap Legal Affairs Writer Updated 9:21 pm CDT, Wednesday, June 12, 2019

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A federal prosecutor on Wednesday told jurors in grisly detail that authorities believe a former University of Illinois doctoral student kidnapped a visiting scholar from China, and beat her to death with a baseball bat. Defense attorneys intent on sparing their client a possible death penalty then offered an exceptional response: He did it.

Opening statements began in the death-penalty trial of Brendt Christensen, a case which is being closely watched in China and by Chinese students across the U.S. Christensen is accused of posing as an undercover officer to lure 26-year-old Yingying Zhang into his car on June 9, 2017, as she headed to sign a lease off campus.



FILE- In this Nov. 1, 2017 file photo, Ronggao Zhang, left, and Lifeng Ye, display a photo them with their missing daughter, Yingying Zhang, in Urbana, Ill. Almost two years after their daughter disappeared from the University of Illinois campus, the parents of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang are back in Champaign-Urbana for the trial of her accused killer. Former Illinois student Brendt Christensen is charged with Zheng, whose body hasn't been found. He pleaded not guilty and his trial is set to begin Monday, June 3, 2019. .



File-This Oct. 11, 2018, file photo shows guests mingling after a ceremony to dedicate the memorial garden for Yingying Zhang, Chinese scholar who disappeared from campus in June 2017. A judge at the trial of a former University of Illinois student charged with killing a visiting Chinese scholar says lawyers should be ready to deliver opening statements by the middle of next week. Thursday, June 6, 2019, is the fourth day of jury selection at Brendt Christensen's trial in Peoria. (Rick Danzl/The News-Gazette via AP)

Christensen, who is over 6-foot, took Zhang to his apartment where he raped, choked and stabbed her in his bedroom, as the 5-foot-4 Zhang tried to fight him off, prosecutor Eugene Miller said in his opening statement to jurors Wednesday. Christensen then dragged Zhang into his bathroom, and pummeled her in the head with the bat before decapitating her, Miller said.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Defense-in-trial-of-Chinese-scholar-s-death-He-13973030.php#photo-17594099