‘Extremely angry’ New York Times trans executive ‘rained hell’ on his family for years, in-laws’ lawyer claims after murder

The lawyer for the alleged killer’s in-laws painted a starkly different picture Thursday of the transgender New York Times executive gunned down in a Northern California parking lot.

Curtis Briggs stood in court where Jonathan McKinsey’s mother-in-law, Shili Chen, and father-in-law, Shouyong Zhang, were watching proceedings Thursday – and told reporters the victim had “rained hell on his family for years.”

“He was extremely angry, couldn’t control his temper, abused his wife so much at one point that he fractured her spine, abused the children so badly that an Alameda County court had to send him to parenting classes,” Briggs said. “McKinsey was extremely violent and dangerous to his family,” he added.

McKinsey faced allegations of spousal abuse and domestic violence from his wife, Candice Jang, well before his death on September 26, after Zhang and Chen allegedly shot him.

The New York Times employee was charged last year with two counts of child abuse for the incident, but was ultimately released from prison on the condition that he take parenting classes. Jang called the police after McKinsey allegedly hit their young son.

The California Post spotted Jang at her home in Dublin on Wednesday and attempted to speak with her. A friend who accompanied her told the Post that she was in “survival mode” and had “nothing to say” about her husband’s death.

Briggs told reporters that although the couple did not enter a guilty plea Thursday, they planned to plead not guilty.

Prosecutors charged them both with murder with a series of special circumstances and allegations, including lying in wait.

The lawyer suggested he might work to “blame the victim” by reviewing court documents.

“Not yet, but once we investigate it could happen,” he said. Briggs, in turn, described the grandparents as loving and devoted to their family and to each other.

He highlighted a moment in court Thursday when he said Zhang put Chen’s earpiece on for her after a Mandarin interpreter handed it to her and she couldn’t put it on.

“I just thought, ‘Wow, this is completely inconsistent with the allegations,'” he said. The lawyer said Chen weighs 80 pounds, is frail and is a “loving and devoted grandmother.”

Briggs’ characterization is far from the image of prosecutors. Authorities say Chen and Zhang murdered McKinsey in a cold-blooded, ambush-style attack in which both grandparents took turns shooting him.

A family member told the Post he would bet the in-laws murdered McKinsey so Jang could have sole custody of their three children. Briggs sought to redirect speculation back to the murdered father.

“I can’t comment on that at this time,” Briggs said in response to a question about whether the grandparents had acted on Jang’s behalf.

“I don’t know. It’s speculation that’s been circulating in the public. All I know is that Mr. McKenzie had a reputation for terrorizing his family, being extremely violent, unstable, angry, and that he was a dangerous person.”

Download the California Post app, follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletters