Opening statements in Brendt Christensen’s trial predicted to begin Wednesday
The Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse sits at 100 Northeast St. in Peoria. The trial for Brendt Christensen, alleged kidnapper and murderer of Yingying Zhang, began here June 3 with the jury selection process. The defense and prosecutors made their closing statements Monday.
June 5, 2019
Day three of jury selection in Brendt Christensen’s trial included groups of 14 jurors in both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Six of the potential jurors qualified from the morning group and two qualified in the afternoon, bringing the total up to 45 potential jurors of the 70 needed before choosing the sitting jury. Once 70 potential jurors have qualified, the prosecutors and defense will pick the 12 jurors and six alternates.
Judge James Shadid predicted a jury will be seated on Monday and opening statements would be able to start on June 12.
