Judge OKs blood, DNA evidence in Chinese scholar's case A federal judge has denied a defense request to exclude DNA and blood test results from the trial of a former University of Illinois physics student accused of killing a Chinese scholar in 2017

URBANA, Ill. -- A federal judge has denied a request to exclude DNA and blood test results from the trial of a former University of Illinois physics student accused of killing a Chinese scholar in 2017.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that U.S. District Judge James Shadid ruled Monday that the evidence taken from Brendt Christensen's apartment in Urbana meets the threshold for admissibility.

Prosecutors are trying to prove Christensen kidnapped and killed 26-year-old Yingying Zhang.

The judge hasn't ruled on the admissibility of evidence stemming from an apartment search by a cadaver-sniffing canine.

The judge also denied a defense request to delay the April 1 trial until October to provide more time to prepare a mental-health expert.

Shadid says he's open to reasonable proposals but that October is "simply out of the question."