Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #10 *Still Missing*

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Evidence shows she WAS in his apartment.
She bled, suggesting life.
In bedroom.
On his bed.
Down the wall...
Either way, the question is where is she now?
Whether it's real or false, he disposed of her.
Where did he do that?
I dont believe for a second he suspected he was being taped. No way.
Why did he take TB's phone and type in those statements for her to read then he deleted them if he didn't suspect he was being taped? That was a strange thing to do don't you think?
 
And, here I thought I was going to get a few days mental break from this trial.

Have to be careful with newspaper headlines. They can be misleading. Many headlines are saying: “Christensen offered to plead guilty, reveal location of remains.” That’s not exactly correct. He’s offering information in his possession on the location of the remains.

Here's the text from their filing:

In truth, however, within six months of his arrest Mr. Christensen agreed to plead guilty to the charges against him, to cooperate fully with investigators and provide all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim’s remains and to accept a sentence of life without possibility of release.



"all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim's remains."



I do remember reading at least one article that said the family would be willing to trade life in prison in exchange for her remains. I assume, and I think it is reasonable to assume, her family would want actual, physical remains that they can return to China with them in order to make a deal taking death off the table. When you read that line at first, that's exactly what you think -'He's going to tell them where he buried her!!! Thank God!!!!!'

The problem might be that "all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim's remains" might mean instead: "Yeah, here's the spot on the riverbank where I chopped her up and threw the parts in the river. Have fun trawling the riverbottom from here to 10-20 miles downstream. Hope you find something." Or, "Yeah, here's the locations of the 3 dumpsters i tossed her remains in. Have fun figuring out in January of 2018 what landfill the contents of these dumpsters on June 9-12 ended up in, figuring out what parts of the landfills these contents ended up in, and cordoning off and excavating 6 months worth of trash in those sections. Hope you find something."

In short, they may have demanded that he give them a location and a guarantee that remains the Zhang family could take home with them would be recovered. Maybe that was a sticking point that kept a deal from being made.



I'm sure the prosecution will file a response to this. Needless to say, it is going to be *very* interesting what they say regarding this offer, and why it was not taken.......

I know prosecutors know how badly her family wants her body. I also know the Zhang family wants him dead, too. My guess is that they weren’t going to risk taking death off the table for a location, and then get caught with no body and BC in prison for life. Then the family would be left getting nothing of what they wanted. There must have been a stipulation that all or most of the remains must be recovered, or no deal. He probably coudnt guarantee it, so chose not to deal.....
 
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gazette have pounced upon today's submissions already
Christensen's lawyers say he offered to plead guilty, reveal location of remains
"Such testimony would clearly imply to the jury that Mr. Christensen has refused to provide any information about what he did to Ms. Zhang," his attorneys wrote. "In truth, however, within six months of his arrest, Mr. Christensen agreed to plead guilty to the charges against him, to cooperate fully with investigators and provide all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim's remains and to accept a sentence of life without possibility of release."

There has been almost no discussion of a plea deal in open court, besides U.S. District Judge Jim Shadid mentioning in a pretrial hearing this spring that it was still a possibility

This eh? Oh Right!
And, in March 2018, Christensen's lawyers mentioned in a motion that a document needed to be filed under seal "to prevent sensitive information regarding plea negotiations from becoming public."
Ok so why didn't they let him do that? Unfortunately the article won't load for me for some reason, like most of them.
 
And, here I thought I was going to get a few days mental break from this trial.

Have to be careful with newspaper headlines. They can be misleading. Many headlines are saying: “Christensen offered to plead guilty, reveal location of remains.” That’s not exactly correct. He’s offering information in his possession on the location of the remains.

Here's the text from their filing:

In truth, however, within six months of his arrest Mr. Christensen agreed to plead guilty to the charges against him, to cooperate fully with investigators and provide all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim’s remains and to accept a sentence of life without possibility of release.



"all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim's remains."



I do remember reading at least one article that said the family would be willing to trade life in prison in exchange for her remains. I assume, and I think it is reasonable to assume, her family would want actual, physical remains that they can return to China with them in order to make a deal taking death off the table. When you read that line at first, that's exactly what you think -'He's going to tell them where he buried her!!! Thank God!!!!!'

The problem might be that "all information in his possession regarding the crime and the location of the victim's remains" might mean instead: "Yeah, here's the spot on the riverbank where I chopped her up and threw the parts in the river. Have fun trawling the riverbottom from here to 10-20 miles downstream. Hope you find something." Or, "Yeah, here's the locations of the 3 dumpsters i tossed her remains in. Have fun figuring out in January of 2018 what landfill the contents of these dumpsters on June 9-12 ended up in, figuring out what parts of the landfills these contents ended up in, and cordoning off and excavating 6 months worth of trash in those sections. Hope you find something."

In short, they may have demanded that he give them a location and a guarantee that remains the Zhang family could take home with them would be recovered. Maybe that was a sticking point that kept a deal from being made.



I'm sure the prosecution will file a response to this. Needless to say, it is going to be *very* interesting what they say regarding this offer, and why it was not taken.......

I know prosecutors know how badly her family wants her body. I also know the Zhang family wants him dead, too. My guess is that they weren’t going to risk taking death off the table for a location, and then get caught with no body and BC in prison for life. Then the family would be left getting nothing of what they wanted. There must have been a stipulation that all or most of the remains must be recovered, or no deal. He probably coudnt guarantee it, so chose not to deal.....
Ah ok, I should have read further on. Thanks for that info.
 
Holy crap......

Ben Zigterman on Twitter

BC's lawyers are saying that he offered to reveal location for her remains in return for life without possibility of parole......

So did his lawyers say "ok Brendt you need to disclose where you put her remains to us because you have to tell us everything so we can defend you"
or what did they say? If they know the location are they then bound to disclose it?
 
Once again..the stupidity and underhandedness of this defense team is off the scale..but would they really say something like this if it weren't true? This, I would think. could lead to disbarment if so.
Yet, if it weren't true, why doesn't the prosecution just unseal that record and let us all see just who the actual jerkoffs are here??
This might explain how the FBI knew for sure she was dead and didn't continue searching. They all knew it and the defence team knew the location all this time? I can't believe I'm hearing this.
 
Here is the Bruno interview/podcast I mentioned earlier
Legally Speaking: Evan Bruno

You have called Christensen's public defenders, Elisabeth Pollock and George Taseff, 'total all-stars.' What do you think of their strategy of admitting to the jury from the outset that he murdered Ms. Zhang?

I wasn't there for the strategy decision. ... I'm not going to comment on that.

As a matter of law, the defense is not entitled to concede a client's guilt if the client does not want them to concede his guilt. I'm sure everyone in the courtroom from the government to the defense attorneys to the judge are aware of that law, which is actually a recent Supreme Court case from 2018 called Louisiana v. McCoy. (It) basically says, among other things, a defendant has total say over whether his attorneys concede guilt or do not concede guilt.
 
Here is the Bruno interview/podcast I mentioned earlier
Legally Speaking: Evan Bruno

You have called Christensen's public defenders, Elisabeth Pollock and George Taseff, 'total all-stars.' What do you think of their strategy of admitting to the jury from the outset that he murdered Ms. Zhang?

I wasn't there for the strategy decision. ... I'm not going to comment on that.

As a matter of law, the defense is not entitled to concede a client's guilt if the client does not want them to concede his guilt. I'm sure everyone in the courtroom from the government to the defense attorneys to the judge are aware of that law, which is actually a recent Supreme Court case from 2018 called Louisiana v. McCoy. (It) basically says, among other things, a defendant has total say over whether his attorneys concede guilt or do not concede guilt.

I guess they would say they didn't concede his guilt. They said he killed her while he pleaded not guilty. Killing someone does not mean murder necessarily. I guess that is how they are squirming around the issue. Lawyers huh.
 
Here is the Bruno interview/podcast I mentioned earlier
Legally Speaking: Evan Bruno

You have called Christensen's public defenders, Elisabeth Pollock and George Taseff, 'total all-stars.' What do you think of their strategy of admitting to the jury from the outset that he murdered Ms. Zhang?

"I wasn't there for the strategy decision. ... I'm not going to comment on that.
As a matter of law, the defense is not entitled to concede a client's guilt if the client does not want them to concede his guilt. I'm sure everyone in the courtroom from the government to the defense attorneys to the judge are aware of that law, which is actually a recent Supreme Court case from 2018 called Louisiana v. McCoy. (It) basically says, among other things, a defendant has total say over whether his attorneys concede guilt or do not concede guilt."

bold added...
Sheeeeeesh!, so are we not then talking mistrial?... seriously, was this the Defense's tactic all along??? As many of us asked previously how was this dichotomy even allowed to happen? genuinely asking, if some legal eagle can explain it...
 
bold added...
Sheeeeeesh!, so are we not then talking mistrial?... seriously, was this the Defense's tactic all along??? As many of us asked previously how was this dichotomy even allowed to happen? genuinely asking, if some legal eagle can explain it...
they wouldn't dare!
Or would they?
Judge would have checked... ?
Prosecution certainly were not expecting it.
Edit
He went on to say that pleas are kept secret unless an agreement is reached,
Last night they broke that 'pledge' (my word) without consultation with prosecution. They essentially disclosed what had been offered to prosecution without consulting prosecution and without disclosing exact terms and wording.
This will cause chaos.
Their exhibition list- problems too, far too many concern mental health issues.

I'm guessing they will play on the mother's alcoholism, they reserved a right to use anything that came up in the guilt phase which included BC telling his therapist that his mother was an alcoholic. So it's out.... that is like a Pandora's box of psyche afflictions both real imagined and vexatious.
They're trying it on.
Ditto vigil tape, they want it excluded.
And God only knows what the sealed motion stated but it was important enough for prosecution to reply late last night. Think Trunk said it was about 11.30pm.

All of it will cause further hurt for her already vulnerable family in a strange country...
Has to be ethical violations here..
 
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I get email notifications from Court Listener and it's like being stung by a swarm of wasps everytime one comes in. Yesterday was an exception because I was not expecting more than one, prosecution had a deadline to disclose their state of play.
Yesterday, it was like getting hit by the wasps followed by bees and then locusts.
I'm sitting here waiting for prosecution response..
A massive drama has been artificially created.
And it looks like it was all because Mrs Zhang cried.
They punished her and her husband.
Do they seriously believe their client is worth that wound on vulnerable souls?
 
I get email notifications from Court Listener and it's like being stung by a swarm of wasps everytime one comes in. Yesterday was an exception because I was not expecting more than one, prosecution had a deadline to disclose their state of play.
Yesterday, it was like getting hit by the wasps followed by bees and then locusts.
I'm sitting here waiting for prosecution response..
A massive drama has been artificially created.
And it looks like it was all because Mrs Zhang cried.
They punished her and her husband.
Do they seriously believe their client is worth that wound on vulnerable souls?

not sure what you're saying here... is it that jurors saw Mrs. Zhang and that will affect their judgment at penalty time, or is it something else? I assume jurors are still not s'posed to read/see any press reports on the case, nor talk to anyone about it?
 
not sure what you're saying here... is it that jurors saw Mrs. Zhang and that will affect their judgment at penalty time, or is it something else? I assume jurors are still not s'posed to read/see any press reports on the case, nor talk to anyone about it?
I mentioned it in posts during the night...
This is just one- Motion to Exclude – #411 in United States v. Christensen (C.D. Ill., 2:17-cr-20037) – CourtListener.com Read it and try to imagine what the Zhangs will make of it.
All the other motions posted separately during night...
The media hopped on one aspect- that prosecution refused the offer made in December 17 . That was the plea, but they did not explain the context or wording or exact prosecution response.

BUT before the plea mention which will cause chaos for the Zhangs without context, the remainder is likely to be understood by them that they did and said something wrong in the very few interviews they gave.
 
this
UPDATE: Family says 'there was no promise that Yingying’s remain(s) would be discovered'

We were made aware of this defense claim during the progress of the case,” said the family’s lawer in Chicago, Zhidong Wang. “We asked that the prosecution obtain truthful information about the whereabouts of remains, that the remains be located and we be allowed to return them to China. We were told that the response to our request by the Defendant was that it was not possible to verify any claim the Defendant would make. There was no promise that Yingying’s remain would be discovered.”

Sharon Paul, spokeswoman for the local U.S. attorney's office, said she could not comment during the trial.

(Well, I'm glad Gazette contacted Zhang's lawyers- this confirms the offer was insubstantial. They knew about it but they did not believe it to be sincere which means probably that the offer did not include a precondition of retrieval of the body and the prosecution did not or could not or would not offer that.

But, that's not how they worded it in their statement last night.
 
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