The defendant in The Zhang Yingying case asked the presiding judge to recuse himself from seeking an extension of the trial

China News Network, February 12 Comprehensive US media reports that chinese visiting scholar Zhang Yingying has recently made new progress in the case of being kidnapped and killed in the United States. According to court documents released Feb. 7 local time, prosecutors and lawyers for suspect Brendt Christensen separately requested adjournment of the trial, and the defendants asked for the trial to be postponed until 2019, and intended to ask the presiding federal judge in the case, Colin Stirling Bruce, to avoid the trial on his own.

According to the US Chinese Network, the new public records show that the lawyers of Christensen, the suspect suspected of kidnapping Yingying Zhang, said they hoped that the judge who sought the death penalty against him would recuse himself in the case, but they did not explain why.

The prosecution and the defence submitted separate schedules for the extension by Feb. 7. Although the two sides agreed on the postponement of the trial, there was considerable disagreement over the length of the extension. Prosecutors want to postpone the trial until October 2018, while Christensen's lawyers want to reopen the trial in June 2019. The two sides will meet with Judge Bruce on Feb. 12 to discuss the agenda that follows.

"The U.S. government wants to set the trial date on October 16, nine months from the time of seeking a death sentence, taking into account the expectations of justice from the victim's family and the public, while also giving the defendant enough time to prepare for the trial," prosecutors said on Feb. 7. ”

But Christensen's lawyers believe that 9 months of preparation time is not enough, and they hope to postpone the trial by 16 months.

In addition, Christensen's lawyers intended to ask the presiding federal judge in the case to recuse himself from the case, but did not explain why the judge was asked to recuse himself in the 2-page document he submitted. It is reported that the defendant's lawyer declined to comment on the matter.

At the same time, the defense must have looked at a wealth of evidence, which includes thousands of written documents, 14 pages of wiretapping calls, a DNA report and phone records from hundreds of hours in prison from suspects. According to the defense, there was also data from 7 computer hard drives and 4 mobile phones.

Event Review:

Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese scholar visiting the United States, went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in April 2017 to study. On June 9, 2017, Yingying Zhang disappeared after getting into a black Saturn sedan. The FBI arrested 28-year-old suspect Christensen on June 30, after which Christensen was charged with kidnapping and homicide. On July 3, 2017, Christensen appeared in court for the first time for a hearing.

On the afternoon of July 20, Christensen was formally litigated in federal court in Urbana, Illinois, UNITED States. On August 28, the U.S. Central Illinois Federal District Court held a hearing on Yingying Zhang's abduction in the United States and approved the motion previously filed by christensen's lawyer to adjourn the trial.

On October 3, there was a new development in Zhang Yingying's case, and a us federal grand jury voted to pass the latest evidence from the prosecution and formally decided to prosecute the suspect Christensen for "kidnapping to death", the suspect suspect suspected of being tortured and ill-treated with heinous cruelty and resulting in Zhang Yingying's death, once convicted, the suspect will face the highest death penalty.

On the afternoon of October 11, Christensen, suspect in Zhang Yingying's kidnapping case, attended a second court arraignment, and Christensen refused to plead guilty to a new indictment (kidnapping to death) proposed by federal authorities.

On October 24, lawyers for Christensen, a suspect in Zhang Yingying's kidnapping and death case, filed a motion with the court to apply to the court for a delay in the trial date. On November 15, the application was rejected by U.S. Court judge Bruce of Urbana.

On January 19, 2018, the Federal Prosecutor for the Central District of Illinois filed a filing with the court announcing his intention to seek a death sentence against Christensen, the suspect who kidnapped and killed Yingying Zhang.

On January 23, Christensen's attorneys filed a motion in court to cancel all existing deadlines, final pretrial conferences, and jury trial dates. Prosecutors Miller and Fries responded on Jan. 31: "Agree that the court postponed the final pre-trial meeting on Feb. 12, 2018, and the trial date on Feb. 27, to give defendants a reasonable time to prepare." ”

On February 7, the prosecution and the defence submitted separate schedules for the postponement of the trial.