Verdict reached in Christensen trial
Photo of Brendt Christensen, convicted kidnapper and killer of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang. Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017 and will be sentenced at 4 p.m. Thursday.
July 18, 2019
After about eight hours of deliberation, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on whether Brendt Christensen should be sentenced to death or life in prison. Therefore, the court will be imposing a life prison sentence.
Around 2:35 p.m. today Judge James Shadid read the verdict from the jury. Once read that he would not be sentenced to death, Christensen’s head bowed and was patted on the back by one of his attorneys.
Christensen will officially be sentenced at 4 p.m. today.
