Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*

[dm92]

That is so heart wrenching. Uggggggg

Ive come to realize that murder suspects that fight their case will hardly ever give up the location of the body even after being convicted. Its because they want to keep their chances of an Appeal working in the future. So most of them keep claiming innocence and they cant give up the location of the body if they keep claiming that and trying to appeal their case.

Unfortunately unless the Prosecutor is willing to make some kind of deal to get the location from the defendant then I am afraid this particular monster wont ever tell authorities.

And I get sick thinking of giving this fool any kind of deal.

Yes. And all death penalty conditions are automatically appealed, and the average time for appeals to run their course is something like 14 years.

If he gets life, whatever appeals he tries would be wiped away if her body is found or if he gives it up, so no go there -especially if he also has delusions that somehow one day his sentence might be commuted.

 

[kittythehare]

Remember with these filings, they are public records and available for anyone to read,, unless they are sealed by court order. As such, they are not going to give out details as to what happened unless they are critical to the legal argument being made -and if too many details need to be pointed out, they will ask for the document to be sealed.
They don't want too many details revealed, because they will find their way into the press and that will make it harder and harder for them to impanel an unbiased jury. Early on in the case, the government requested to file a document under seal so as to avoid public outrage toward the defendant. The more the public knows before the trial, the harder it becomes to try him fairly.

You might be right. It might just have spatter that tested positive for her DNA and that is why it is included as an exhibit. However, they intend to present evidence of torture that occurred prior to death, and they intend to prove to the jury that she died. It is hard to do that simply by presenting his own words on tape, especially when you don't have her body. However, if they have him saying he used something on her; and in the absence of her body, they have one of the things he says he used..... AND, lo and behold, it has blood and her DNA on it -there is solid, concrete evidence that confirms that he actually did what he says he did. I tend to believe this bat was used on her in the apartment, and that's why it is an exhibit.



What did you see in the filings that makes it more likely it was used to initially disempower her as opposed to torturing her or killing her?

Again, they don't come out and say things directly, but there are phrases used in filings that could suggest how the bat might have been used

"....the United States intends to present evidence of torture and severe physical abuse occurring prior to death.."

"Rape with permanent injury to the victim"

So maybe it was just up against the wall and got spattered, or maybe he used it on her. No way to know until next week.......

Nothing at all, dM and I even checked the 3 filings you referred to in a previous post last week where you suggested the bat was used and there was no reference to an injury or abuse by a bat.

 

[kittythehare]

Statutory Aggravating Factor ! The death, or injury resulting in death, occurred during the commission of, or during the immediate flight from the commission of, a kidnapping. ! Committed the offenses in an especially heinous, cruel, and depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim. ! The defendant committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person.
From link above.. see entire document.
My impression is that rather than a long protracted hearing, this will be heavily streamlined and what's on the table is merely death or life without parole for the defendant. It appears as though his defense are not really contesting his guilt. That will mean that the court will be spared many details of the crime and YY will never be found. It makes sense because the defense must have seriously overshot their budget before now, humming and hawing as if they were choosing goods from a variety of supermarkets.
I have seen these cases before now, they are invariably horribly minimalistic and leave their witnesses in a state of despair and non-closure. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this.

I'm re-upping this because I am genuinely puzzled as to the possibilities or meaning of this one line
Statutory Aggravating Factor ! The death, or injury resulting in death, occurred during the commission of, or during the immediate flight from the commission of, a kidnapping. !

What could occur during flight from commission of a kidnapping that could cause death?
Is it possible he used his car as a weapon?

It's been bothering me for days now because this wording did not come to my attention before now.

 

[dm92]

Ben Zigterman on Twitter

They’re up to 58 preapproved jurors now.....

 

[Niner]

Friday, June 7th:
*Trial continues-Jury Selection (Day 5) (@ 9am ET) - IL - Yingying Zhang (26) (missing on June 9, 2017, Urbana; not found) - *Brendt A. Christensen (28) indicted (6/30/17) on kidnapping (Federal charge) resulting in death of Yingying & 2 counts of giving false statements to FBI. Plead not guilty. Held without bond. DA will seek DP.
Trial started 6/3/19 with jury selection & should last 1 week; trial should last about 5 weeks.
6/3/19 Day 1: Judge Shadid started the process of picking 12 jurors & 6 alternates. Jury selection: first group of 16 questioned this morning. After being questioned in open court, they were brought into the judge's chambers for individual questioning. They completed initial screening of 29 jurors today, so far 13 have been pre-approved to move on to the next round. Once they get up to 70 pre-approved jurors, they will go to the next stage, which is selecting the 12 jurors and 6 alternates from this pool of 70. Jury selection will continue on 6/4.
6/4/19 Day 2: Another 9 jurors pre-approved, bringing total to 22. Two were approved over objections. Now up to 37 pre-qualified jurors. Jury selection continues to 6/5.
6/5/19 Day 3: Judge Shadid said opening statements will likely be next Wednesday. Prosecutors said they think they can make their case in 8 days or less and hope to finish by Friday, June 21 @ 9am. Then defense would make their case, then closing statements, and then jurors would deliberate. Day ends with 8 potential jurors qualifying, bringing the total to 45. Goal is 70 by the end of Friday. Jury selection continues on 6/6.
6/6/19 Day 4: up to 58 pre-approved jurors now. Jury selection continues on 6/7.

 

[Angleterre]

From the update at 1:45

Sixteen potential jurors were called in Monday morning and asked if they knew any of the lawyers, court clerks or potential witnesses.

That included about 88 potential witnesses from the prosecution, many of them FBI agents or biologists, and about 53 from the defense, including Christensen's former wife.

So, BC's wife is a witness for the defense..... and he has potentially 53 of them. I wonder how many will testify in the guilt phase, and how many are potentially for the penalty phase?

Also, the process is said to be going slowly.......

Is she still his wife or are they divorced? I’m thinking of compel ability rules for spouses ....

 

[Angleterre]

It came to me one day as I was thinking about YY, I'm wondering if it isn't possible for BC to tell them where she is, even if he wanted to. Perhaps the way he disposed of her makes it an impossibility. That might also explain why there have been no searches. It was just a thought. MOO

I’m not sure I follow? How? Where? By what means are you suggesting that he wouldn’t know?

 

[Angleterre]

Yeah, I feel ignorant for not knowing this, but what does "a day" in a trial like this entail; are we talking essentially 8 hrs., or much less than that? and is it all prosecution presentation for those 8 days, or does that include Defense cross-examination (as well as objections, interruptions, etc.), or does all their cross-examination come later?
[I'm not concerned about the Prosecution's case, but just curious about the procedures]
By the way, I assume BC will not take the stand, but have we heard either way?

I can only speak if a trial in the UK but it would look like this :
Court commenced 0945
Jury break 1115-1130
Lunch 1300-1400
Court sits 1400-1630

That’s it!
However, the prosecution referring to getting done in 8 days is merely the Prosecution case . Then the defence have their time . Plus opening and closing for both prosecutions and defence can take days too ! So in all, it could be 4 weeks or more possibly bearing in mind a court sits only Monday through to Friday.

 

[Hazelnutty]

Justice for YingYing.

 

[Angleterre]

I'm re-upping this because I am genuinely puzzled as to the possibilities or meaning of this one line
Statutory Aggravating Factor ! The death, or injury resulting in death, occurred during the commission of, or during the immediate flight from the commission of, a kidnapping. !

What could occur during flight from commission of a kidnapping that could cause death?
Is it possible he used his car as a weapon?

It's been bothering me for days now because this wording did not come to my attention before now.

It could be as simple as she tried to run and he threw something around her neck as she did so to recapture her which ultimately resulted in strangulation??? Only my own thoughts here and I apologise for speaking such abhorrent actions out loud x

 

[Deleted member 158085]

I’m not sure I follow? How? Where? By what means are you suggesting that he wouldn’t know?

It’s not that he wouldn’t know, but rather, that her body can no longer be found - was dissolved or dismembered and scattered.

 

[dm92]

Is she still his wife or are they divorced? I’m thinking of compel ability rules for spouses ....

They are divorced. She filed for divorce last year and it was finalized in December, IIRC.

She is listed as a witness for the defense.

 

[kittythehare]

It could be as simple as she tried to run and he threw something around her neck as she did so to recapture her which ultimately resulted in strangulation??? Only my own thoughts here and I apologise for speaking such abhorrent actions out loud x

'the immediate flight from the commission' would suggest he was the one fleeing.

 

[kittythehare]

today- Jury Selection continues-
Aaron Eades‏ @WCIA3Eades 11m11 minutes ago
Christensen trial, jury selection day 5: the process may take longer than expected-- starting the day with 58/70 potential jurors qualified. People are scheduled to come in on Monday if they don't reach 70 by the end of the day. #YingYingZhang @WCIA3

 

[kittythehare]

Christensen trial, Day 4 | Prosecutors want audio heard over headphones

CHAMPAIGN — Prosecutors plan to use accused kidnapper and killer Brendt Christensen's own voice against him at trial, but there appears to be some dispute about what exactly he said into the wire his girlfriend was wearing.

prosecutors have alleged he can be heard describing how he kidnapped her, how she "fought and resisted against him" and how he restrained her.
(I had always assumed the tapes also described how he killed her??)

so, this is the limited instruction!- c/p Limiting instructions tell the jury to consider the evidence only for specific purposes and not for others or to only consider part of the evidence.

This is a bit of a draw-back for the prosecution, fuzzy tapes!!!

 

[kittythehare]

This Fox news report mentions that Christensen 'showed very little emotion all week' FOX Illinois on Twitter

 

[kittythehare]

Hope springing eternal, here, as always!
This Vice video just came in today. It explains the latest research and forensics on searches conducted on found human remains.
#GRAPHIC WARNING (film depicts dead bodies, unidentifiable, usually donated for part of the latest research. the bodies are placed in various geographical locations and environments and in some cases allowed to be subjected to the ravages of nature.
It gave me some hope, if the trial does not disclose the location or make a conclusion regarding how he disposed of her body, maybe one can still agitate for another search.
It also examines the latest tech used for searching.Fascinating.
#GRAPHIC LINK

 

[kittythehare]

9 more jurors already, looking good for Monday selection (67 now qualified)
Adalberto Toledo on Twitter

 

[dm92]

Article on the 2-year anniversary of YY's disappearance.

2-Year Anniversary of Chinese Scholar’s Disappearance as Death-Penalty Case Begins

Of note from the article:

What exactly happened to Zhang following her disappearance remains unclear.

An FBI spokesman would not comment when asked recently if there are ongoing efforts to recover Zhang’s remains. The University of Illinois Police Department also declined comment, citing the ongoing trial.

This is the first time I have ever seen it reported that they have no comment when asked about searching for her. Granted, I haven't seen anyone ask recently, but last summer they were saying that they were still searching for her. I don't know if this means they have figured out what happened to her remains over the past year, or if they just don't want to say anything because the trial is so close.

 

[dm92]

This is the first time I have ever seen it reported that they have no comment when asked about searching for her. Granted, I haven't seen anyone ask recently, but last summer they were saying that they were still searching for her. I don't know if this means they have figured out what happened to her remains over the past year, or if they just don't want to say anything because the trial is so close.

I should add that as recently as this past October, they were still saying he had not divulged the location of her remains to authorities, and they were monitoring his communications in part to try to locate her remains. (Docket #142)