UPDATE: An Oct. 11 arraignment date has been set for Brendt Christensen, after a federal grand jury returned a new indictment accusing the alleged kidnapper of Yingying Zhang of murdering her as well.
The man accused of kidnapping U of I visiting scholar Yingying Zhang has new lawyers representing him, after prosecutors told the judge new charges could include the death penalty.
Lawyers for Brendt Christensen, the 27-year-old man accused of kidnapping Yingying Zhang, are asking a judge’s permission to withdraw from the case.
A federal judge in Urbana has postponed until February the trial of the man accused of kidnapping U of I visiting scholar Yingying Zhang. The trial of Brendt Christensen is now scheduled to begin on February 27, 2018.
In a hearing lasting less than five minutes, Brendt Christensen entered a “not guilty” plea Thursday in a federal courtroom in Urbana to the charge of kidnapping Yingying Zhang.
Prosecutors accuse Christensen, a recent University of Illinois graduate student, of abducting Zhang, a U of I visiting scholar from China, from a campus bus stop on June 9th.
