In the opening statement on June 12, the defense lawyer stated that Christensen admitted to killing Zhang Yingying, a scholar visiting China, and claimed that she was raped and tortured before her death. Although he admitted the crime, he did not change his position of not admitting guilt.
Prosecutors said Christensen described gruesome details of the crime in wiretap recordings provided by his girlfriend. He claimed that Zhang Zhijun was his 13th victim and boasted that his last victim was the 1970s serial killer Ted Bundy.
"He kidnapped her, he murdered her, and he covered up his crimes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller said in opening statements on behalf of the prosecution. Miller said that on the day of the incident, Christensen pretended to be a plainclothes police officer, persuaded Zhang Yingying to get into a car, and then kidnapped her back to the apartment, where Zhang Yingying was raped. He then stabbed her in the bathtub, broke her head with a baseball bat, choked her for about 10 minutes and then decapitated her before dumping her body. Throughout the process, Zhang Yingying resisted, struggled and tried to escape.
It was unclear where the body was dumped, he said. After disposing of the body, the defendant cleaned out his apartment and car to cover up his crime. However, investigators found blood on the defendant's mattress, bed boards, walls, under the carpet and on his baseball bat. A DNA blood test showed a match to Zhang.
For two years after the murder, the defendant pleaded not guilty. Now he suddenly changed his attitude. The defense said in a statement that the main purpose was to spare the defendant the death penalty.
On June 11, the trial of Chinese visiting scholar Zhang Yingying entered its sixth day. The federal court in Peoria, Illinois, announced that 12 jurors and six potential judges have been selected.
Subsequently, the two men will formally appear in court as jurors. Then the prosecution and defense make opening statements - the beginning of the conviction phase.
Wang Zhidong, a lawyer representing Zhang Yingying’s family, said: “Zhang Yingying’s family understands that the outcome of this criminal case is now in the hands of the jury, and they choose to believe that the American criminal justice system will give her a fair answer.”
Lawyer Wang Zhidong pointed out that at the conviction stage, since the criminal suspect enjoys the presumption of innocence, the prosecutor will bear the full burden of proof. In other words, prosecutors must present all evidence to prove the suspect's guilt. The defense only needs to refute the validity of the evidence and does not need to prove the suspect's innocence.
In order to convict Christensen, all 12 jurors must unanimously find the suspect guilty at the end of the conviction phase. This phase is expected to last about a week and a half.
If Christensen is found guilty, the court will enter the sentencing stage. Since the prosecutor in this case requested the death penalty, the jury must again reach a unanimous decision on whether the death penalty should be applied. If someone disagrees, the suspect will not be sentenced to death.
Can a defendant be sentenced to death in a country that has abolished the death penalty?
It is worth noting that since 2011, Illinois has abolished the death penalty, making Christensen the first defendant in the state to face the federal death penalty in the United States.
During the jury selection process, a woman attending the screening asked Christensen how he would be sentenced to death if found guilty since Illinois has abolished the death penalty.
The judge explained that Christensen is one of the few defendants in more than 20 states to have abolished the death penalty. Under U.S. law, federal agencies can seek the death penalty for serious crimes.
Lawyer Wang Zhidong said that the conviction phase will last up to two and a half weeks, and the issue of the death penalty will not be discussed before conviction.
The defense attorney filed a new motion, and the defendant’s girlfriend was questionable as a witness.
It is also reported that in addition to the jury’s verdict of 11, a new motion recently filed by the defendant’s lawyer has also attracted attention.
The defendant’s lawyer stated that the defendant’s girlfriend T.B., who recorded key testimony for the FBI, had received multiple psychological treatments, and her mental illness affected her ability, credibility and reliability to testify.
The defense attorney said in the motion that "there were clear signs of a health problem related to tuberculosis, and she had received mental health treatment on multiple occasions." Given her relationship and interactions with Christensen, she may Providing inflammatory testimony during trial. The lawyer also emphasized that from July 2017 to February 2018, TB saw a psychiatrist six times and spent more than $500 on prescription drugs.
Three days after Zhang Yimou disappeared on June 9, 2017, investigators discovered tuberculosis on June 6, 2017. Auxiliary. The FBI wiretapped her and recorded eight conversations. Those recordings later helped police arrest Christensen. In one of the recordings, the defendant talked about kidnapping and killing Zhang and described how she resisted the attack. In another recording, Christensen and his girlfriend attended a prayer meeting for Zhang Yingying's safety, and he even pointed out to her in the crowd who his "ideal victim" would be.
US media pointed out that since Zhang Yingying was not found and the prosecutors had less evidence than T.B., Christensen visited a forum called "Kidnapping 101" which read "Perfect Kidnapping Fantasy" ” and “How to kidnap.” The recordings obtained were immediate and powerful, making the recordings provided by T.B. relatively important to prosecutors.
Zhang Yingying’s parents returned to the United States in May 2019 after returning to China in 2017 and will attend the court hearing. Lawyers for the Zhang family said they hoped the trial would lead to some conclusions. On Tuesday, Zhang Yingying's family heard opening statements in court with the help of an interpreter. Zhang Yingying's boyfriend Hou Xiaolin told the court that after learning that Zhang Yingying was missing, he and his girlfriend's family traveled to the United States to seek help. "We have been looking for her" and "we will never give up hope of finding her."
Since June 12, both sides of Zhang’s case began to hear the case, and then listened to the testimony of the prosecution witnesses. After all prosecution witnesses have given their evidence, the defense will present their testimony. The conviction phase is expected to be completed on or before June 28.