Will Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying’s killer Brendt Christensen get the death penalty? Here’s how jury will decide
- ‘Mini-trial’ to determine if Christensen should be put to death is expected to be more contentious and gruelling than verdict phase
- Jurors will have to consider whether he killed Zhang ‘in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner’ and whether he has shown remorse
A federal jury that convicted a former University of Illinois doctoral student of kidnapping, torturing and killing a young scholar from China now must decide if Brendt Christensen should be put to death.
While the state of Illinois, where she was killed, does not have the death penalty, the case was brought under federal law, which does allow capital punishment.
The jury returned a guilty verdict on June 24 after deliberating for less than 90 minutes, in part, because the 30-year-old Christensen’s own lawyers told jurors from the outset that he did kill 26-year-old Zhang Yingying, saying their sole objective was to persuade jurors to spare his life.
The penalty phase, which is set to start on Monday in Peoria, Illinois, is sure to be more contentious and more emotionally gruelling. Here’s a look out how it will work and how it could play out.
How does it work?
The penalty phase is a kind of mini-trial with opening arguments, exhibits, testimony and closings. It is expected to last at least as long as the verdict phase, around a week and a half.