Photo provided by the Macon County Sheriff's Office in Decatur, Ill.
A federal jury has reached a verdict of life in prison without release for Brendt Christensen for the murder of University of Illinois scholar from China Yingying Zhang.
The federal jury took two days of deliberating before making its verdict. Sentencing from the judge is took place at 4 p.m. Thursday (July 18).
Christensen was facing the death sentence but the jury failed to make a unanimous decision.
Christensen was found guilty on June 24 for the murder of 26-year-old Zhang in 2017.
The state of Illinois does not have the death penalty, but the case was tried under federal law allowing for capital punishment.
