US man Brendt Christensen, accused of killing visiting Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying, abandons mental health defence
- Defence earlier planned to argue Christensen suffered from severe mental illness in attempt to avoid death penalty if he is convicted
- Lawyer for Zhang’s family says he is shocked by move, but can ‘sort of see a strategy’
Lawyers for a former University of Illinois student accused of killing a visiting Chinese scholar say they are abandoning their mental health defence.
The (Champaign) News-Gazette reported that Brendt Christensen’s lawyers had been planning to argue that the 29-year-old suffered from severe mental illness in an attempt to avoid the death penalty if he is convicted of killing Zhang Yingying.
Mental health exams were expected to begin on Monday. The lawyers gave no reason for the change in a Friday filing.
They said in the document that they had informed prosecutors “as soon as possible and explained that Mr Christensen will not be speaking to the government's mental-health experts next week”.
Christensen is accused of luring Zhang into his car in June 2017 then allegedly torturing and killing her. Her body has not been found.