PEORIA, Ill. (AP) – The federal death-penalty trial of a former University of Illinois doctoral student charged with slaying a 26-year-old scholar visiting from China is resuming in central Illinois.
Monday is the fourth day of testimony as prosecutors present their case against 29-year-old Brendt Christensen. He’s accused of killing Yingying Zhang after luring her into his car in 2017.
Prosecutors initially said they would need weeks for their presentation but later said they could finish in eight days. That could mean they wrap up this week.
Prosecutors ended last week by playing a secret recording of Christensen in which he tells his girlfriend he killed Zhang.
Defense attorneys seeking to spare him a death sentence told jurors he did kill Zhang. But they dispute some details about how and why he did it.
