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Associated Press

Lawyers for a man accused of kidnapping and killing Zhang Yingying, a University of Illinois student from China, have asked for a trial delay after prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.
Brendt Christensen’s lawyers filed a motion Tuesday asking that a new trial schedule be discussed at a previously scheduled pretrial hearing, the Champaign News-Gazette reported.
Prosecutors have until February 2 to respond. The trial is expected to start February 27.
US prosecutors announced Friday that they would seek the death penalty for Christensen, the former physics student charged with kidnapping and killing 26-year-old Zhang.
Zhang disappeared last June and her body hasn’t been found. Prosecutors say she is dead.
How Chinese police may have helped the FBI in Zhang Yingying kidnap case
Zhang’s disappearance prompted a massive search that drew international media attention, particularly from China.
Christensen has pleaded not guilty.


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Crime

Lawyers for man accused of murdering Zhang Yingying try to delay case

This undated photo provided by The University of Illinois Police Department shows Zhang Yingying. The lawyers for the man accused of killing her are trying to delay his trial. Photo: University of Illinois Police Department via AP

Mother of Chinese student missing presumed dead in US ‘doesn’t know how to live’ without her

Zhang Ronggao and Lifeng Ye, the parents of Zhang Yingying, who went missing in June while studying at the University of Illinois in the US, said they are reluctantly returning to China. A man has been arrested on suspicion of Zhang’s murder, but has yet to be tried. Photo: AP

FILE - This photo provided by the Macon County Sheriff's Office in Decatur, Ill., shows Brendt Christensen, a suspect in the kidnapping of visiting University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign scholar Yingying Zhang. Authorities have not said how Zhang died. (Macon County Sheriff's Office via AP File)

This 2016 selfie photo provided by her family shows Yingying Zhang in a cap and gown for her graduate degree in environmental engineering from Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. She chose the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for its highly regarded agriculture program. Zhang had been doing research on crop photosynthesis and was to begin her doctoral work in September 2017. (Family Photo via AP)