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

[kittythehare]

2 people saved Christensen's life, says alternate juror

 

[AnemoneBrown]

Are we sure the jury instructions did not ask that they vote based on raw emotion?

From the article Kitty just posted:

"“As each family testified, it certainly affected you mentally and you associated it with whatever family was testifying at the time,” Bob said. “To hear that outpouring of emotion from family and friends, you associate with that. So first, it was one way and then you hear from the other family and it’s another way.”

2 people saved Christensen's life, says alternate juror

 

[kittythehare]

Are we sure the jury instructions did not ask that they vote based on raw emotion?

From the article Kitty just posted:

"“As each family testified, it certainly affected you mentally and you associated it with whatever family was testifying at the time,” Bob said. “To hear that outpouring of emotion from family and friends, you associate with that. So first, it was one way and then you hear from the other family and it’s another way.”

i just threw the link up ... awful, isn't it?
Defense objected strenuously to a few videos from China of YY's friends describing her life while bringing in every possible relative of BC's as character witnesses...
I felt sick. I still do..

 

[Raptors001]

I didn't even want to see that article

 

[lynneboh]

2 people saved Christensen's life, says alternate juror

JMO...The voir dire process seems to flawed.

 

[dm92]

LK Fox
But the US attorney’s office and Yingying family both say the efforts to find her are far from over

( I do not believe them)

On the radio today, the family attorney says the family will be meeting with prosecutors next week on how to move forward with searching for her.

 

[dm92]

i just threw the link up ... awful, isn't it?
Defense objected strenuously to a few videos from China of YY's friends describing her life while bringing in every possible relative of BC's as character witnesses...
I felt sick. I still do..

It sounds to me like "Bob" may have voted for life as well if given the chance, but it is hard to say....

 

[dm92]

Here's the verdict form if anybody has the heart left to read it.
You will see that the jury found him guilty of all 3 charges that qualified for DP.
But they found a way around imposing the sentence for which they were selected.
Mind boggling!

Jury Verdict – #481 in United States v. Christensen (C.D. Ill., 2:17-cr-20037) – CourtListener.com

You will find that the only NO is future dangerousness--- their makey uppy diagnosis and character analysis!

That's key. I think the two who made a big deal about alcohol + antidepressants were the ones who wanted to spare him, BUT..... they didn't want their mercy leading to him getting out eventually and killing again, or killing in prison. When that aggravator was not found, and Shadid clarified that he would be in prison for life, future dangerousness was no longer an issue for them. they were free to vote for mercy, as they wanted. At some point during all this, someone pointed out that even in prison for life, BC could still be dangerous from inside to people on the outside. He might make friends in prison who might get out eventually and emulate him. Enough jurors were able to say that he wasn't "charismatic" enough to likely do this. That probably further ensured the two that their mercy wouldn't come back to haunt them and cost someone their life

So, convinced that BC wasn't a threat to anyone, and with enough other jurors agreeing with them on the lack of dangerousness, those two jurors were free to vote with their hearts.

I may be all wet, but those two additional mitigating factors had to be key. The fact that they were added means they must have been of critical importance to the process

Sad that those two jurors, when faced with the brutality of what he did and the remorselessness of what he did and continues to do to her family, could STILL let drugs and alcohol, and probably some other BS factors, outweigh the pain and suffering he has caused and continues to cause.

 

[dm92]

Just in: Slim chance of ever finding Chinese scholar's body

by The Associated Press
Friday, July 19th 2019

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Illinois authorities have said the remains of a slain 26-year-old scholar from China may never be found despite a vow from prosecutors this week that the search will continue.

Brendt Christensen, a former physics doctoral student at the University of Illinois, abducted Yingying Zhang in 2017. Prosecutors say he beat her to death at his off-campus apartment, decapitated her and carried her away in a duffel bag.

Christensen was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole and Zhang's family begged him to reveal what he did with her body so her remains can be returned home.

But authorities believe that with his background in science, Christensen destroyed the remains. Evidence at his trial included an article Christensen downloaded before the killing called, "Beyond the Grave -- Understanding Human Decomposition."

Slim chance of ever finding Chinese scholar's body

**** Excuse me but if BC indeed possessed some science powers that would make him successful in concealing the body for this long, he wouldn't have had to Google this ***t like the rest of us peons. What are they thinking! ****

This little blurb is garbage.. He might have a background in Science, but he can't speed up time and change chemistry. Likely he dismembered her and found a way to disperse her. He also can't generate the chemicals to destroy her out of thin air. He'd have to buy them somehow. He'd have to buy them beforehand as well -and he'd have to have a location where he could do this undisturbed

 

[dm92]

Are we sure the jury instructions did not ask that they vote based on raw emotion?

From the article Kitty just posted:

"“As each family testified, it certainly affected you mentally and you associated it with whatever family was testifying at the time,” Bob said. “To hear that outpouring of emotion from family and friends, you associate with that. So first, it was one way and then you hear from the other family and it’s another way.”

Yo, Bob...... Remember BC's father's testimony? Remember what he said? How he could accept a sentence of death...... ?

 

[JaneEyre]

Steve Beckett, family attorney on the radio this AM:

Defendants during sentencing will sometimes ask to be sent to a specific BOP facility. Judges will sometimes honor this request and recommend BOP house them where they request

Christensen requested to be sent to the Tucson, Arizona facility.

Michelle Zortman is currently living in Arizona.

Shadid declined to honor his request.

He continues to show himself to be a worse and worse individual. Still concerned with himself.

I hope he is tormented by all the relationships Michele will have in the future and everything he will be excluded from in her life.

 

[JaneEyre]

on the wcia3 tv special, linked yesterday, Shahid said the request would be handled by the director of prisons or some such title...
He will probably get his request, he got everything else.
He'll probably get to walk the streets again too...

He won’t be walking the streets again. It’s just not happening. Things didn’t go that sideways in this case.

 

[AnemoneBrown]

I thought it was nauseating too. How can the AP report this ignorance. Science is not magic! Are readers supposed to read this and say, "Well, he knew science. No reason to bother searching." What?

This little blurb is garbage.. He might have a background in Science, but he can't speed up time and change chemistry. Likely he dismembered her and found a way to disperse her. He also can't generate the chemicals to destroy her out of thin air. He'd have to buy them somehow. He'd have to buy them beforehand as well -and he'd have to have a location where he could do this undisturbed

 

[AnemoneBrown]

I think there has to be a limit to the so called mitigating factors jurors can fabricate in sentencing deliberations. You mean to tell me that as a juror, I can listen to all the facts and evidence presented by the state and the defense, read the jury's instructions, and then write in my verdict form :

"I think aliens abducted and mind-controlled the defendant, then dropped him off from the spaceship and made him kill. The defendant has no prior offenses, so it was the aliens."

There has to be limits , some standard, by which these juror-concocted "mitigating factors" are allowed or disallowed. Someone has to look at them to make sure they are reasonable.

That's key. I think the two who made a big deal about alcohol + antidepressants were the ones who wanted to spare him, BUT..... they didn't want their mercy leading to him getting out eventually and killing again, or killing in prison. When that aggravator was not found, and Shadid clarified that he would be in prison for life, future dangerousness was no longer an issue for them. they were free to vote for mercy, as they wanted. At some point during all this, someone pointed out that even in prison for life, BC could still be dangerous from inside to people on the outside. He might make friends in prison who might get out eventually and emulate him. Enough jurors were able to say that he wasn't "charismatic" enough to likely do this. That probably further ensured the two that their mercy wouldn't come back to haunt them and cost someone their life

So, convinced that BC wasn't a threat to anyone, and with enough other jurors agreeing with them on the lack of dangerousness, those two jurors were free to vote with their hearts.

I may be all wet, but those two additional mitigating factors had to be key. The fact that they were added means they must have been of critical importance to the process

Sad that those two jurors, when faced with the brutality of what he did and the remorselessness of what he did and continues to do to her family, could STILL let drugs and alcohol, and probably some other BS factors, outweigh the pain and suffering he has caused and continues to cause.

 

[dm92]

Even if YY'so remains are not recoverable, BC should admit what he did with them. He should at least answer her family's questions.

You have to hurt him where it really hurts him if you want to get him to come to the table. He got what he wanted. Life. He's a remorseless b@stard. He doesn't care about the family. He doesn't care about their pain. He cares about what he wants and needs. He doesn't care *that* much about his family. He hadn't seen many of them in years. When he requested a prison to be assigned to, he didn't request one close to where his family members reside. Instead, he requested Tucson, AZ.

Tucson?!? Why Tucson?

Easy.

Michelle.

He wants easy access to Michelle. She is living in Arizona now..

They need to do everything in their legal power to make it a pain in the @ss for Michelle to come and see him. Everything in their legal power to make it difficult for Michelle to communicate with him.

It is time to get REAL information out of him. Even if it is that he destroyed the body, and not what the Zhangs want to hear, at the very least, it would end their suffering to an extent in that they would not be fruitlessly searching forever, and forever becoming more and more despondent and depressed and desperate that they were failing to find her. It would end the suffering of Ambiguous Loss. I hope that it isn't the case that she was destroyed, I hope that he dismembered her and dispersed her, and that there is a chance that at least *something* can be found. But whatever the case may be, it is time to play tough with him. HE is no longer presumed innocent now. He is convicted and sentenced. He has rights still, but they are curtailed due to his incarceration and status as a convict.

Do whatever you can to hit him where it hurts....... and keep doing it........ and make it abundantly clear that you will keep doing it until he stops being such a complete and total monstrous pr*ck and puts and end to this ridiculous notion that YY's remains (or information on them) are his damn trophy to do with as he pleases.

Hit. Him. Where. It. Hurts.

Michelle............................

 

[dm92]

AND soon I hope, and when it hits the news we will be there.
MOO.

Yes, but let's hold off on that until *after* we get all we can out of him regarding the location of her remains........

 

[dm92]

I think there has to be a limit to the so called mitigating factors jurors can fabricate in sentencing deliberations. You mean to tell me that as a juror, I can listen to all the facts and evidence presented by the state and the defense, read the jury's instructions, and then write in my verdict form :

"I think aliens abducted and mind-controlled the defendant, then dropped him off from the spaceship and made him kill. The defendant has no prior offenses, so it was the aliens."

There has to be limits , some standard, by which these juror-concocted "mitigating factors" are allowed or disallowed. Someone has to look at them to make sure they are reasonable.

BC's own father said in his testimony that he could accept a sentence of death.

While I'm sure he wouldn't really actually vote for it, you could make the argument that his own dad would have been more likely to vote for the death sentence than these two jurors who were persuaded by the totally concocted "It was the rum plus the antidepressants!!! The rum plus the antidepressants made me do it!!!!!"- mitigating factor....................

 

[dm92]

He won’t be walking the streets again. It’s just not happening. Things didn’t go that sideways in this case.

This. Aint no way he's getting to Tucson until the Zhangs have something they can take home to China for proper burial.....

 

[JaneEyre]

He’s obsessed with Michelle. They need to use that obsession to their advantage.

It’s too bad she wasn’t a better person. She could have helped get closure for YY’s family if she had been inclined to.

 

[AnemoneBrown]

How can this fly? How? Especially when all 12 jurors agreed the aggravating factors were proven.

BC's own father said in his testimony that he could accept a sentence of death.

While I'm sure he wouldn't really actually vote for it, you could make the argument that his own dad would have been more likely to vote for the death sentence than these two jurors who were persuaded by the totally concocted "It was the rum plus the antidepressants!!! The rum plus the antidepressants made me do it!!!!!"- mitigating factor....................