Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #10 *Still Missing*

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(Beginning of day 2:) Defense again makes a motion for a mistrial based on the juror whk ran out of the room yesterday. Motion denied @WCIA3

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The gov't rests their case. Michael Christensen (Brendt's dad) is called to the stand by the defense. Lives a humble life-- doesn't make much money, splits his time between a cabin he built in UP Michigan and Minnesota @WCIA3

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  1. Elisabeth Pollock confirms he's aware BC murdered YZ. EP: "Do you still love him?" MC: "Oh god, yeah." MC says the jury did what they had to do; it wasn't a surprise BC was found guilty. @WCIA3

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  2. Aaron Eades‏Verified account @WCIA3Eades 7m7 minutes ago
    MC says Ellen's drinking eventually ruined their marriage. Says he supported BC marrying Michelle. @WCIA3

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  3. Aaron Eades‏Verified account @WCIA3Eades 8m8 minutes ago
    MC says his (now ex-wife, BC's mom) Ellen was frequently drunk around their three children. MC says Brendt tried to kill himself by running out into traffic at age 15, but didn't know why he did it. Says BC suffered from night terrors well into his 20s @WCIA3

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  4. Aaron Eades‏Verified account @WCIA3Eades 9m9 minutes ago
    MC is staying at a campground while he's here. "I have no choice," he says, saying he needs to be here for his son. He details family history of alcohol abuse
 
P asks if MC has anything to say to say to YZ's family (they left the courtroom in the middle of MC's testimony). MC chokes up. "I'm sorry my son was the cause if their pain". BC cries hard into his hands. MC says he has too much to offer to die. Walks off stand in tears @WCIA3

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BEN
Brendt Christensen just broke down crying while his father described how a death sentence would impact him. His father also cried, taking a couple breaks and was barely able to continue.




"A death sentence, I could handle," he said. "But not the actual death." Said he recently pictured Christensen about to get the needle, but "I had to stop. I can't think of that too much" (2/14)


And asked if he had anything to say to Ms. Zhang's family, he struggled to speak, but said, "I'm sorry my son was the cause of their pain." Christensen was also crying during this. (3/14

As he left for a break, Christensen's face was red and his lawyers had their arms around him. Another one of his lawyers walked out of the courtroom with his father after he finished and was crying while walking past Christensen. (4/14)

Christensen also cried when his father described how Christensen's wife became good friends with his younger sister. (5/14

TRIGGER WARNING



Christensen also smiled and laughed when the defense showed a picture of him dressed as a red power ranger for halloween and playing with his cat. (6/14

His dad said he still loves his son and will support him. "Oh God, yes," he said. "Of course." (7/14)

"I'm his parent. I have to be here. I love him. Nothing's going to stop that. I have no choice." (8/14)

He said his father was never around and an alcoholic, so he tried to be the opposite with his three kids. (9/14)

aid after his third kid was born, his now ex-wife started to drink a lot, would drive the kids around drunk, almost got a restraining order against her. (10

Said Christensen was a smart kid, in an accelerated program, made a Pinewood Derby car shaped like a carrot, did track and field. (11/

Also described Christensen's night terrors growing up, and his episode at 15 when he jumped off the second-floor porch and into a van. (12

And talked about his work accident when 19, when he fell 16 feet at a construction site and severely hurt both arms. (13

When he went to college, his dad said he was unaware of Christensen's problems with alcohol, but wishes he would have been (14/14)
 
He said BC tried to kill himself at age 15 by jumping off a deck, then running into a car that was driving down the road. EMTs and police responded. Later, after talking to BC, he learned “He knew he was trying to kill himself but he could not explain why...”

Tim McNicholas added,

Christensen’s father testified that BC’s mother was an alcoholic throughout BC’s childhood, sometimes drinking a quart of liquor per day.
 
Brendt Christensen's father spent about 75 minutes on the stand this morning in the defense portion of the sentencing phase of his trial. He broke down when he said how he was sorry his son was the cause of t



  1. Michael Christensen is led out of courtroom crying & trembling. His son also is crying with his face partially in his hand. That after Michael says he cannot bear the thought of his son being put to death for the brutal murder of #YingyingZhang. @willpublicmedia

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  2. Tanya Koonce‏ @tkoonce 16m16 minutes ago
    Michael Christensen, the father of the man convicted of kidnapping & murdering #YingyingZhang, says he knows, "the jury did what it had to do."
he Zhang family's pain.
 
kittythehare said:
BC was carrying on an affair with the facebook friend since 2016, well before Michelle reportedly settled for an open marriage instead of divorce.


She was about to divorce him for his drinking problems... this we know... lets not add legs to hens just yet...
She has had a new partner for quite some time and as far as I know they are co-habitating in another state, not that that has anything to do with anything.

Speculation is not a fact.
More is to be revealed.
The defense intend presenting more tapes, at least one more tape of her convo with BC, the judge alluded to that yesterday, a 'less nasty tape'.
It is also possible she said what she said to keep him calmed down.
She did appear to share a pretty good friendship with TB.
They got on well together and TB was anxious to observe the BDSM protocols of courtesy towards other's partner.
That has all been presented in evidence already.
Let's not rewrite the evidence, yet...

HOWEVER, if she lied about wet carpets when she returned from her weekend away, then she is very much guilty and accessory. IF.

I'm just not sure yet.
Click to expand...
One small thing I don't think I ever got an answer to: do we know if Michelle heard of the crime while she was in Wisconsin with her boyfriend (it got spotty national coverage at first), or did she only learn of it when she returned to Champaign on Monday? And Monday is the day the Astra videotape was publicly released -- wonder if she made a connection right away???
 
Webthrush said:
One small thing I don't think I ever got an answer to: do we know if Michelle heard of the crime while she was in Wisconsin with her boyfriend (it got spotty national coverage at first), or did she only learn of it when she returned to Champaign on Monday? And Monday is the day the Astra videotape was publicly released -- wonder if she made a connection right away???
Click to expand...
She actually returned at 5pm on Sunday, not monday as was previously reported, so I doubt she had heard of it..
 
AUSA Nelson cross-examines Michael Christensen. He says he hadn't seen BC in person since 2013. Pollock recrosses, has NC confirm that's because he lived 8 hours away and it would've taken him a months' salary to go visit. Sketch of Nelson + Judge Shadid by Joe McGuire @WCIA3

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good to see prosecution calling this bs

We also hear from Mark Christensen-- Michael's brother, Brendt's uncle. Talks about family history of alcoholism. "It's horrible," he says about Zhang's fate, "It's a travesty...I feel terrible for their family." AUSA Miller has him admit he hasn't seen BC since BC was 12 @WCIA3

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WHOA!

PEORIA – On cross examination, Brendt Christensen’s father, Michael Christensen, was asked about his son calling the case political in a recorded jail call.

“If he didn’t, I probably did” say that, he said. Prosecutor James Nelson asked the father if he thinks the case is political. “Not completely,” he said.
A few days after Brendt Christensen was arrested, he apparently told Christensen that if he was exonerated he would tell Ms. Zhang’s father he should be ashamed of himself. Christensen’s dad said he was frustrated that everyone assumed his son was guilty after he was arrested, when he could imagine situations where he wasn’t.

LIVE: Christensen sentencing phase, Day 3
 
ben, 20, no less

On cross examination, Christensen's father, Michael Christensen, was asked about his son calling the case political in a recorded jail call. (1/20)

"If he didn't, I probably did" say that, he said. Prosecutor James Nelson asked if he thinks the case is political. "Not completely," he said. (2/

Said he initially believed his son could be innocent, as not all the evidence was out (3/20)

A few days after Christensen was arrested, he apparently told Christensen that if he was exonerated he would tell Ms. Zhang's father he should be ashamed of himself. (4/20)

hristensen's dad said he was frustrated that everyone assumed he was guilty after he was arrested, when he could imagine situations where he wasn't. (5/2

On re-direct, he said he had to repair his 2001 minivan to get to the trial from the Upper Peninsula, and will probably have to do some work on it before heading back up. (6/20)

After his testimony, Christensen's uncle, Mark Christensen, testified. (7/2

He also testified about Christensen's grandfather, who built roads in Alaska and would be gone during the summers. (8

aid Christensen's grandpa was an alcoholic, as was he. (9

he grandpa once slammed the dad's face into a cake because he wouldn't stop asking about it. (10

Said the uncle wasn't good at showing affection. (11/

After a major earthquake/tsunami, the family moved back to Minnesota (12/

The uncle said he quit drinking 36 years ago after he woke up in a jail cell for assaulting a cop. (13/

Said his son is also an alcoholic, as well as his aunt, and two of his grandsons. Another aunt was schizophrenic, and he said he had been suicidal, as well as his son, who was once missing for 5-6 hours. (14/

He described being worried his son had killed himself and was relieved when he was found at a detox center. (15/2

On cross, Assistant US Attorney Eugene Miller asked if its fair to say it's fairly distressing to look for your child for 5-6 hours when you don't know where they are. "Yes, it is," Christensen's uncle answered. (16/2
Describing Brendt Christensen, his uncle called him a "happy go-lucky kid. … just a real nice kid." (17/2

Asked what he thought of his crime: "It's horrendous. It's a travesty. I have no idea. I feel terrible for her family." (18/

sked if he can reconcile the child he knew with his crime: "Never. It's unimaginable. It's not Brendt. I don't know what happened." (19

Now on lunch. This afternoon, sounds like a couple childhood friends will testify, his first grade teacher, a relative on his mom's side and his mom's friend. (20

(Gawd help us all, first grade teacher!!!!!!)
 
Federal Public Defenders are laying out a family history of alcoholism, drug addition & mental illness on both sides of Christensen's family. That continues this afternoon as the sentencing trial continues for the man convicted of killing (Tanya Koonce)
 
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