CHICAGO, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chief Judge James Shadid of the U.S. District Court in Central District of Illinois on Thursday granted an intra-district transfer of the trial of missing Chinese visiting scholar Zhang Yingying's case from the Urbana Division to the Peoria Division for further proceedings.
"The case would be better off transferred," according to Shadid, who based his decision on docket management, courthouse space, and to allow for an earlier end to the trial.
It is estimated that the trial of the case, which is currently scheduled for April 4, 2019, may exceed five weeks.
Zhang's family is disappointed by the decision. When the defendant's lawyers asked that the trial be moved to Peoria from Urbana in September this year, Zhang's family requested the judge not to change the trial location.
Wang Zhidong, legal advisor to Zhang's family, told Xinhua that though the decision on the transfer of trial location has come after due consideration of various factors, it would make it inconvenient for Zhang's family in handling the case as they have mostly stayed at Urbana when in the United States.
Wang nevertheless said that the change of the trial location is not expected to influence the outcome, as the trial is based on evidence, not on media coverage or public impression.
Zhang, 26, went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.
Brendt Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, after being caught on tape pointing out people he described as "ideal victims" during a vigil in Zhang's honor. On July 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ordered that Christensen remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial.
