In opening statement, defense attorney admits man killed Chinese scholar at University of Illinois

PEORIA, Ill. - Before a word of testimony was heard, any questions about Brendt Christensen's guilt in the abduction and murder of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois were answered.

"Brendt Christensen is responsible for the death of Yingying Zhang," defense attorney George Taseff said Wednesday in his opening statement to jurors in a Peoria federal courtroom. "Brendt Christensen killed Yingying Zhang, and nothing we say or do during this phase of the trial is intended to sidestep or deny that Brendt Christensen was responsible for the death of Yingying Zhang."

Christensen, 29, faces the death penalty if he's convicted of abducting and murdering Zhang, a visiting researcher at the university's Urbana-Champaign campus. Taseff told the jury that Christensen "is on trial for his life in this case," indicating his efforts will focus on