Defense hints at strategy for in-laws charged in killing of NYT engineer

DUBLIN, Calif. - An attorney representing a 77-year-old woman accused alongside her husband of gunning down their son-in-law at a crowded Dublin park offered the first glimpse of her defense, portraying his client as a devoted grandmother while pointing to court records alleging that the slain man had abused his wife and children.

Curtis Briggs represents Shili Chen. 

Chen and her husband, Shouyong Zhang, 77, are charged with murder in the death of their son-in-law, Jonathan McKinsey, 40. The murder charge includes a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait.

Zhang will have separate counsel.

Briggs spoke outside an Alameda County courthouse in Dublin on Thursday after his client's plea hearing was postponed. He said the delay will allow the defense time to review the case. Briggs said he plans to enter a not-guilty plea on her behalf.

Defense seeks woman's release

What they're saying:

In court, Chen sat alongside Zhang. Briggs described her as a frail woman with no prior legal troubles and said he is working to get her out of jail while the case proceeds.

"My client weighs about 80 pounds," Briggs said. "She's in one of the toughest jails in the county. She's a loving, devoted grandmother. So my concerns are that any person in that kind of situation probably couldn't handle being in custody."

Briggs, an experienced defense attorney, previously represented Max Harris in the high-profile Ghost Ship warehouse trial, in which Harris was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.

Briggs acknowledged the speculation regarding a motive in the killing, including whether the parents intervened to protect their daughter — who was locked in a bitter divorce and custody battle with McKinsey — or whether the attack was fueled by transphobia, as McKinsey was a transgender man. McKinsey had previously alleged in a restraining order request that his mother-in-law used transphobic slurs against his child and him.

Briggs quashed that theory. 

"That's not the case at all," Briggs said. "They seem to have been fairly supportive."

Defense points to abuse allegations

Briggs quickly shifted the narrative off his client and onto McKinsey, pointing to messy divorce filings between the victim and his wife. McKinsey's wife was previously granted a temporary restraining order against him.

"If the court documents are true, he was extremely rageful, could not control his temper, abused his wife so badly, at one point he fractured her spine, abused the kids so badly that a court in Alameda County had to send him to parenting classes," Briggs said. "McKinsey had a reputation [of] terrorizing his family, extremely violent, volatile, rageful, and he was a dangerous person."

According to the East Bay Times, McKinsey and his wife were due back in court this Friday. 

McKinsey, the head engineer of games player experience for The New York Times, was shot and killed a week before at the Dublin Sports Grounds. 

Prosecutors have not revealed a motive and Briggs said he could not comment extensively on the allegations because the case is in its preliminary stages. However, he did speak about the love between Chen and her husband.

"The moment I saw in court right now was two elderly grandparents who love each other very much," Briggs said. "There was a moment when the interpreter went to hand my client an earpiece and she couldn't get it on. And there was this endearing moment where her husband reached over and put it on for her. And I just thought, wow, this is completely inconsistent with what the allegations are."

Editor's Note: KTVU is not naming Jonathan McKinsey's wife because she has not been charged with a crime.