This undated photo provided by the University of Illinois Police Department shows Yingying Zhang. The parents of the visiting University of Illinois scholar who disappeared two years ago have arrived in Illinois from China for the murder trial of the man accused of abducting and killing her. Former Illinois student Brendt Christensen is charged with Zheng, whose body hasn’t been found. He pleaded not guilty and his trial is set to begin Monday, June 3, 2019. (Courtesy of the University of Illinois Police Department via AP)
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge in central Illinois will continue vetting would-be jurors at the death penalty trial of a former University of Illinois student charged with killing a visiting Chinese scholar.
Tuesday will be the second day of a process to pick a jury to hear evidence against 29-year-old Brendt Christensen. Jury selection is expected to last into next week.
Those who categorically oppose capital punishment or who believe it should be imposed on someone convicted of killing without expectation can’t serve as jurors in federal death-penalty cases.
Twenty-six-year-old Yingying Zhang disappeared June 9, 2017, as she ran late to sign an apartment lease off campus. Prosecutors say Christensen lured her into his car and later killed her.
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