George Huguely, 22, of Chevy Chase, Md.,found GUILTY Of Second-Degree Murder in the death of Yeardley Love/Huguely Sentenced to 23 Years

A University of Virginia men's lacrosse player has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a women's lacrosse player at the school.
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A University of Virginia men's lacrosse player was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the death of a women's lacrosse player at the same school, law enforcement officials confirmed to FoxNews.com.

George Huguely, 22, of Chevy Chase, Md., was charged in the death of Yeardley Love, 22, of Cockeysville, Md., Charlottesville, Va., Lt. Gary Pleasants said Monday.

Pleasants said Love's roommate called police around 2:15 a.m. to report that the young woman may have had an alcohol overdose.

But Pleasants said it was obvious upon arrival that Love had "visual injuries to her body" and "it was determined she had already passed away."

Pleasants declined to say what led police to Huguely, but he said authorities arrested him inside his apartment and charged him with first-degree murder. Huguely, who at one point dated Love, is being held in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Joint Security Complex, he said.


"She was a beautiful girl," said Catherine Meredith of Cockeysville, Md., a neighbor of the Love family and a former substitute teacher at the preparatory school where she once attended.

"She was an amazing person," Drew Jordan of New York, N.Y., Love's friend, told FoxNews.com.

Virginia's athletics department said no coaches, administrators or players were available for comment. However, the university did release a statement.

"Although we know nothing other than what appears in the Charlottesville Police Department's more recent statement, this death moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise, and we express the university's and our own sympathy for Yeardley's family, team-mates, and friends," the statement read. "That she appears now to have been murdered by another student compounds this sense of loss by suggesting that Yeardley died without comfort or consolation from those closest to her."

Both highly ranked teams are preparing for the national tournament later this month. Virginia's men's team was ranked No. 1 for most of the season and expects to host a first-round game in the tournament after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship last month. The women's team also was expected to get into the tournament.

Huguely, a midfielder, wasn't a starter but played in all 15 games this season. He had four goals and three assists. Love played defense and started in three games this season.

When asked how the death would affect the upcoming tournament, athletics director Craig Littlepage said it was "not even entering into our thoughts" but that for the players' sake they wanted to "try to get back to some things that are normal."

Love was "a person who was described as an angel by teammates and friends," Littlepage said.

Love played varsity lacrosse and field hockey for four years at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Baltimore.

"Yeardley was an outstanding young lady -- joyous, spirited a wonderful person," said Sister Patricia McCarron, headmistress of the school. "I know we all enjoyed watching her on the lacrosse field and seeing her walk the hallways at NDP. We are proud to call Yeardley 'one of our girls."'

Mary Bartel, who coached Yeardley in lacrosse at Notre Dame Prep, said, "Yeardley was the core of the personality of the team. She was our laughter, a good soul. She always found an appropriate way to lighten things up.

"I don't think there is a soul in this building who couldn't say her name without smiling. Yeardley loved NDP, and NDP loved her. She was a good soul and an outstanding athlete."

University president John Casteen said in a release on the university's website that Love's death "moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise."

"That she appears now to have been murdered by another student compounds this sense of loss by suggesting that Yeardley died without comfort or consolation from those closest to her," Casteen said.
Casteen said Love did not deserve to die.

"She deserved the bright future she earned growing up, studying here, and developing her talents as a lacrosse player," he said. "She deserves to be remembered for her human goodness, her capacity for future greatness, and for the terrible way in which her young life has ended."

By coincidence, Huguely attended the same prep school as the Duke lacrosse players who were accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a team party. The charges later were dismissed.

In a 2006 interview with The Washington Post, Huguely defended his former high school teammates at Landon School. "In this country, you're supposed to be innocent until prove guilty," he told the paper.

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Another sad story of a beautiful "angel" being murdered by her former boyfriend... why is it always the good ones who have to die?

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010 3:37 AM

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — On a day when gruesome details emerged about how a women's lacrosse player at Virginia wound up dead in a pool of her own blood and a player on the men's team was charged with killing her, the teams decided to play on in tribute.

Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage said in a statement late Tuesday that the men's and women's teams "will represent the University of Virginia as they always have" if selected for the NCAA tournament, as expected, and play to honor the memory of Yeardley Love.

The announcement came at the end of a dark two days for Virginia lacrosse.

Describing a scene of violent rage, court documents revealed that George Huguely, a senior on the men's team, told police he kicked in Love's bedroom door, shook her, and that her head repeatedly hit the wall. Love was found bloodied and dead by friends early Monday.

The 22-year-old suspect, of Chevy Chase, Md., has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Love, also 22. Both were expected to graduate this month.

Huguely was not present at a court hearing Tuesday, but appeared via videoconference from Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail wearing a gray-striped uniform. His lawyer, Francis Lawrence, said later that Love's death was "an accident with a tragic outcome."

Lawrence said Huguely also planned to withdraw from the university.

An affidavit for a search warrant said two people found Love, of Cockeysville, Md., face down in her bedroom with a pool of blood on her pillow, a large bruise on her face and one eye swollen shut. She was pronounced dead at the scene after attempts to revive her.

According to the document, Huguely — listed in the lacrosse media guide as 6-foot-2 and 209 pounds — told police he was "involved in an altercation with Yeardley Love and that during the course of the altercation he shook Love and her head repeatedly hit the wall."

Huguely told police the two had been in a relationship "and that the relationship had ended," according to the affidavit. Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo said investigators are looking into whether Huguely had threatened Love in the past.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010 11:45 PM

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Four years ago, George Huguely's prep school lacrosse coaches looked at him and found an easygoing prankster with a lighthearted attitude and the skills to earn him a spot on one of the country's top college programs.

On Wednesday, police said they had looked in the University of Virginia senior's apartment and found a crimson-stained Cavaliers lacrosse jersey and a letter to the woman Huguely is accused of beating to death, a senior on UVA's women's team.

The arrest of Huguely and the death this week of Yeardley Love, both 22, have struck the highly ranked teams as they prepare for the NCAA tournament and shaken some on the picturesque campus where students are studying for finals.

Love's funeral was set for Saturday in Maryland. Huguely remained jailed on a charge of first-degree murder. The teams will compete in the tournament, and the university's athletic director said Love's family supported that decision.

In court documents filed Wednesday, Charlottesville police said they took the stained jersey, the letter to Love and other items from Huguely's apartment hours after Love's body was discovered, according to the Charlottesville Daily Progress. The court records were later sealed.

The 6-foot-2, 209-pound Huguely was charged just days before he and Love were to graduate and play in the NCAA tournament for the Cavaliers, with both teams considered contenders for the national title. Such an opportunity seemed like a done deal for Huguely as far back as 2006, when he was the star player at the $28,826-a-year, all-boys Landon School in Bethesda, Md., which churns out players for top college programs like Virginia and Duke.

"Very frankly, this kind of killing is so rare that there are few protocols in higher education to deal with it," University President John Casteen said.

Peter Preston and his family were neighbors of the Huguelys for more than a decade, and their children grew up playing together. He said the allegations against Huguely, whom he knew as "Georgie," were baffling since he always seemed like "just a wonderful, charming, polite young man."

Preston said his son, Michael, who is one year older than George, had grown up playing lacrosse with him, but Michael and Huguely saw less of each as they grew older and went to different high schools.

"George is not a monster," Preston said.

During a 45-minute candle light vigil at a packed campus amphitheater that holds 1,500, Casteen urged those in the standing-room only crowd to step forward and report when they suspect incidents of domestic violence. He said he hoped that Love's death would "inspire an anger and a sense of outrage" to ensure no person suffers the same fate.

"Tuck away in your soul the knowledge that neither Yeardley Love nor any woman attacked ever deserved it," Casteen said.

As Casteen spoke, Love's former teammates comforted each other and cried.

At Landon, Huguely once snatched coach Rob Bordley's car keys from the coach's office, drove around the school to where the coach was and talked with him from the driver's seat until it dawned on Bordley what had happened, according to a 2006 article in The Washington Post.

Bordley described the high-scoring Huguely then as Landon's premier player, with a top-notch attitude.

"He's always in an upbeat mood," Bordley said. "Nothing really fazes him. I've asked my assistant coaches if they've ever seen him rattled and they said no. He's just unflappable."

Two other accounts in the 2006 story referred to Huguely joking about women at lacrosse games. In one, he said he bet a Landon assistant coach that if he pulled off a big play by picking off a pass, the assistant coach's fiancee would kiss him. Huguely made the play, then asked the assistant coach for the woman's number.

He also cracked wise about "a good-looking EMT" who treated him in 2005 for heat cramps. He said his teammates "wanted to see if I could get her number."

Huguely continued to make a name for himself in college. According to his profile on the Cavaliers' website, Huguely was majoring in anthropology and was vice president of a student branch of Operation Smile, a charity that helps fund reconstructive surgeries for children with deformities such as a cleft palate.

He also got into his share of trouble, however.

Police in Lexington, Va., about 70 miles from Charlottesville, said that in November 2008, Huguely was shocked with a stun gun by an officer after resisting arrest on public intoxication. He pleaded guilty to two charges last year, was placed on six months' probation and was given a 60-day sentence, which was suspended.

The arresting officer, R.L. Moss, said Tuesday that she felt it necessary to use a stun gun because Huguely became abusive and she was no match for his size.

Both Casteen and Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said neither school officials or Huguely's coaches know of his 2008 arrest in Lexington on public intoxication and resisting arrest charges. Police say they had to use a stun gun to restrain him.

Casteen said current reporting laws don't require off-campus authorities to report to colleges and universities when a student is arrested. He said it was a gap in the law that needed to be fixed. Officials also did not know anything about Huguely's relationship with Love.

Bordley, whom the Landon School has declined to make available for interviews, stoutly defended his former players then at Duke University during a 2006 scandal. A stripper falsely accused three Duke players, including one from Landon, of rape at a team party.

Bordley told the Post then that in the wake of the incident, he was repeatedly warning his team about the risks of alcohol abuse. Huguely was a member of the Landon team at that point and his father was quoted as counseling him about staying out of trouble once he got to U.Va.

"Regardless of what winds up happening, you have to learn from this experience and take what you can from it," George Huguely Sr. said. "You always have to remember and can't let yourself be in a situation where something like this could happen."

Huguely's parents left his brief court hearing Tuesday without commenting.

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May 5, 2010

The University of Virginia lacrosse player charged with murdering his girlfriend was once Tasered by a female police officer because he became combative, shouted obscenities at her and threatened to kill her in a drunken rage.


The 2008 incident came to light amid reports that authorities discovered a red-stained shirt during a search earlier this week of accused murderer George Huguely's campus apartment.

Huguely, 22, is charged with killing his girlfriend, Yeardley Love. Among the items taken from Huguely's apartment was a letter addressed to the slain student. The two had recently gone through a bad break up.

Police took several other items from Huguely's home, including two laptops, a notebook and a pair of shorts, the Charlottesville Daily Progress reported.

This week's arrest wasn't the first for Huguely.

Huguely was arrested in November 2008 when he was found stumbling through traffic after a party at a friend's fraternity in Lexington, Va., Lexington Police Chief Al Thomas told ABCNews.com.

When confronted by Officer R.L. Moss, "Huguely became combative physically and starting shouting obscenities," said Thomas.

Moss, who Thomas described as a "petite" female officer, "deployed her Taser in order to gain control of Huguely," the chief said.

Moss told the Washington Post that Huguely threatened her.

"'He said: 'I'll kill you. I'll kill all of y'all. I'm not going to jail,'" Moss told the paper. Messages left for Moss by ABCNews.com were not immediately returned.

A Rockbridge, Va., courthouse clerk confirmed to ABC News that Huguely was charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest and public swearing. He received 60-day suspended sentence, six months probation, a $100 fine and was required to complete 50 hours of community service and attend substance abuse counseling. According to the clerk, Huguely completed all of these requirements.

Huguely had two other run-ins with the law. In September 2007 he was booked for reckless driving after speeding at 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. In November 2007, he was arrested for possession of alcohol as a minor when he was 19.

In the wake of the UVA murder, Huguely is being kept on 23-hour segregated lockdown in jail, allowed no visitors except his lawyer.

Huguely 22, confessed to police, according to search warrants in the case, that in the early morning hours Monday, he kicked in the door to Yeardley Love's bedroom and shook her violently, repeatedly banging her head against the wall.

Yeardley, also 22, was on the school's female varsity lacrosse team.

UVA's male lacrosse team is ranked No. 1 in the country and the women's team is ranked No. 5. The school has decided that the teams will both compete in the NCAA tournament for the national championship in Love's memory.

Click here to read the police report on George Huguely

"A part of their healing will be getting our students back into some of their routines. In the case of the women's and men's programs, our lacrosse teams will honor Yeardley by continuing their seasons," school Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said.

"I am proud of the dignified way in which our students and coaches have responded to such a traumatic situation," he added.

Love's body was found Monday after an early morning 911 call, face down on her pillow in a pool of blood. Her face was covered in scrapes and bruises, according to the warrant, and her right eye was swollen shut. A large bruise on the right side of her face "appears to have been caused by blunt force trauma," according to a police request for a search warrant.

The brutality of the crime moved Charlottesville, Va., Police Chief Timothy Longo nearly to tears.

"I'm a 47-year-old with children the age of both these individuals," he said. "You're looking at a child."

Lacrosse Suspect George Huguely Had a Temper
"Tragedy is an understatement," Love's longtime friend Kendall Spera said. "There's nothing to say that can convey how terrible it is."

"She had a real kindness about her," Spera, her friend of 10 years, said. "She had very kind eyes. She was so humble. She just was a sweetheart."

Friends said Huguely had a temper and problems with alcohol.

According to the documents, Huguely, waived his Miranda rights Monday and spoke with police, telling them how he kicked through a door on his way to Love's bedroom. Police reported that it looked like the door to her room had been punched through, with hairs still visible hear the hole.

Huguely had cuts on his leg, the document said. Police said they would X-ray his hands and closely examine other injuries that Huguely attributed to lacrosse.

Huguely's lawyer Francis Lawrence said Tuesday during a bond hearing that Love's death was an "accident."

"We are confident that Ms. Love's death was not intended, but an accident with a tragic outcome," Lawrence said.

Love was already dead when police arrived, though rescue personnel tried to revive her.

Huguely told police he and Love had broken up and that he had communicated with her through emails. Before leaving her room, Huguely told police according to the documents, he took her communications and "disposed of it." The police document says Huguely told investigators where to find Love's computer.

Stephen Murman, central regional director for the Virgnia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, told ABCNews.com that an autopsy was performed on Love's body Tuesday, the procedure attended by police officials. He did not release an official cause of death.

They expect to release the body to her family soon.

Wonder if he could have been taking steroids? The attack sounds kinda like "roid rage", but alcohol can do that to some people also...So sad...How terrified that poor girl must have been when he came crashing into her room!

Huguely's lawyer Francis Lawrence said Tuesday during a bond hearing that Love's death was an "accident."

"We are confident that Ms. Love's death was not intended, but an accident with a tragic outcome," Lawrence said.

AN ACCIDENT????????

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May 6, 2010
The funeral for fourth-year University of Virginia student Yeardley R. Love will be held Saturday in Towson, Md.

Her family will receive friends at Ruck Towson Funeral Home, 1050 York Road, Towson, on Friday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Saturday at 10 a.m. The church is at 5200 N. Charles St., Towson. Burial will be private.

Love was the daughter of Sharon Donnelly Love and the late John Love. She is survived by her mother; her sister, Lexi; aunts and uncles Debbie and George McChesney, Kathy Solomon, Lawre and Steve Langhoff, and Granville and Virginia Swope; cousins Lawren, Meagan and Mary Ryan McChesney; Ted, Danielle, Greg, and Lourie Langhoff; Sharon and Scott Robinson; Chris and Callie Solomon; and Tricia and Dave Shuster.

Memorial contributions can be made to The Yeardley Love Memorial Fund at Notre Dame Preparatory School, 815 Hampton Lane, Towson Md. 21286 or to The Yeardley Love Women's Lacrosse Scholarship Fund for the Virginia Athletic Foundation, 1815 Stadium Road, Room 260, Charlottesville, Va. 22903.

Love was found dead in the early morning hours of Monday. George Huguely, who had been a U.Va. student, is charged with first-degree murder.

A four-year member of the women's lacrosse team and member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Love would have graduated on May 23. She will receive her degree posthumously.

Love was remembered Wednesday evening at a candlelight vigil organized by the Student Council in the McIntire Amphitheatre. Addressing the thousands in attendance were President John T. Casteen III; Sarah Elaine Hart, president of the fourth-year trustees; and Colin Hood, Student Council president. The Virginia Belles and Virginia Gentlemen performed.

The hearing for 23-year-old George Huguely was scheduled for Monday morning in Charlottesville General District Court.
eorge Huguely's court hearing has been continued until January 21st.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- A former University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing a women's lacrosse player is set to make a video appearance in court after being charged with additional counts.

The hearing for 23-year-old George Huguely is scheduled for Monday morning in Charlottesville General District Court.

New charges of felony murder, robbery, burglary, statutory burglary and grand larceny were filed against Huguely on Friday. He already faces a first-degree murder charge in the slaying of Yeardley Love and has been held without bond since May.

Love was found dead May 3 in her apartment after suffering blunt-force trauma to the head. Huguely had told police at the time that they had been involved in a relationship that had recently ended.

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BTW--Where is NiteSpinR?

Murder trial for U.Va. lacrosse player to start

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The trial of a University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend is set to begin in Charlottesville.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Monday in the trial of George Huguely V. The 24-year-old from Chevy Chase, Md., faces first-degree murder and several other charges in Charlottesville Circuit Court in the death of women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love, who died of head injuries in May 2010.
Police say Huguely told investigators he kicked in Love's bedroom door and then shook her, causing her head to hit a wall several times.
Huguely's attorneys contend the 22-year-old Love of Cockeysville, Md., died accidentally from an irregular heartbeat partly caused by taking prescription Adderall and drinking alcohol.

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George Huguely and Yeardley Love had volatile relationship, say lawyers and witnesses



CHARLOTTESVILLE — As their final semester at the University of Virginia progressed and graduation approached, the on-and-off relationship between George Huguely V and Yeardley Love unraveled and erupted into several fights, her two roommates have testified.

The details of the volatile relationship between the two lacrosse players came Wednesday during the first day of testimony in Huguely’s murder trial in Love’s May 2010 death. On Thursday, prosecution witnesses continued to take the stand in a trial that is expected to last about two weeks.

Three specific incidents were described at length during opening statements and testimony on Wednesday: In late February 2010, a lacrosse player from another school intervened when he found Huguely aggressively holding Love down in his bedroom, an incident that Love’s friends say left her visibly shaken, prosecutors said.

In late April 2010, Love went to Huguely’s apartment after hearing that he was seeing another woman and hit him with her purse, according to testimony. And, prosecutors said, in the days before her death, Huguely sent Love an e-mail that read, in part: “I should have killed you.”

The fights between the two were often fueled by alcohol, stress and jealousy about other romantic interests, said Huguely’s attorney Francis McQ. Lawrence.

Huguely has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, felony murder in the commission of a robbery, robbery, burglary in the nighttime, breaking and entering and grand larceny.

The February incident occurred during a party that Huguely hosted at his apartment, according to testimony. A lacrosse player from another university heard noise coming from Huguely’s bedroom and opened the door to find Huguely on his back with Love on top of him on her back, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Warner “Dave” Chapman. The player said that Huguely had a “choke hold” on Love, Chapman said.

Lawrence also described the scene and said that Huguely’s “arm was on her chest.”

The lacrosse player who intervened has been subpoenaed by prosecutors.

Love returned to her apartment following the incident, and her two roommates described how she was shaken and scared.

“Her eyes were red, and her mascara was coming off,” said Kaitlin Duff, another lacrosse player who lived with Love.

Love’s other roommate, Caitlin Whiteley, said she had never seen Love so upset.

“She was hysterical,” said Whiteley, who also played lacrosse and was the one who found Love dead in their apartment. “She was crying and physically shaking and upset.”

Whiteley told jurors that she later talked to Huguely about the incident and he told her that he was angry at Love for telling people about it. Lawrence said that Huguely later gave Love a handwritten apology note.

At about that same time, Love called her mother and arranged to be picked up in Annapolis, her mother testified. “She was shaken,” said Sharon Love, who later drove her daughter back to campus so she would not miss lacrosse practice.

In late April, there was another clash between the couple when Love heard from a U-Va. tennis player that Huguely had been seeing another woman, according to court testimony. Love went to Huguely’s apartment and struck him with her purse, losing her cell phone and camera in the process.

Chapman called it a “terrible incident.” Lawrence said that Love had been drinking that day and this incident was the first time in the relationship that “anyone hit anyone.” Lawrence said that Love later e-mailed Huguely to apologize.

That week the couple began to exchange e-mails that Lawrence described as “abusive, angry, demeaning.” In an e-mail sent on April 30, 2010, Huguely told Love that he was angry to hear she had a relationship with another man. The e-mail included this sentence: “I should have killed you.”

Love, who was on a lacrosse team trip to Northwestern University at the time, showed the e-mail to at least one teammate and told several others about it. Chapman said that Love e-mailed Huguely back and wrote, in part: “You should have killed me?” The defense said the next sentence in that e-mail said: “You are so [messed] up.”

The prosecutor said that Huguely then e-mailed Love and said they needed to talk.

When Love returned from Illinois, she saw Huguely on Saturday night at Boylan Heights, a restaurant and bar down the street from her apartment, according to testimony. They briefly talked, Whiteley testified.

The next day, May 2, Love had brunch with friends, did some homework, went to Boylan Heights then returned home to shower and decided to stay in for the night, according to the prosecutor.

Hours later, at about 2 a.m., Love’s roommate Whiteley returned to their apartment, went to Love’s bedroom and found her in her bed, bloody and unresponsive. Hours after that, Huguely was arrested.

Testimony continued on Thursday and as of lunchtime half a dozen witnesses for the prosecution, including two police officers and three EMTs, had taken the stand.

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Prosecutors said in court Wednesday that two days before Love's death, Huguely accused her of having another relationship, and prosecutor Dave Chapman told jurors Huguely assaulted Love and wrote to her saying he was upset because she had slept with someone else, reports CBS affiliate WTVR.

According to prosecutors, Huguely sent angry e-mails to Love, including one that said, "I should kill you." When it came time for Huguely's attorney Lawrence to address jurors, he reportedly relayed the rest of the e-mail's message: "I should have killed you. You should have killed me. You're so [expletive] up.

Prosecutors also outlined Huguely's pattern of violence against Love and said he intended to kill her and steal her laptop to destroy evidence.

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February 12, 2012

The Viginia trial which has captured the nation's attention enters its second week.



Former UVA student George Huguely V is on trial in Charlottesville for the 2010 murder of fellow student and former girlfriend Yeardley Love.

After days of riveting testimony and revelations from both sides, observers are wondering what to expect.

As the prosecution continues to lay out its case, it's expected to talk about blood evidence, DNA and the relevance of a crushed beer can.

Huguely, once a swaggering college lacrosse player from Chevy Chase, is now shriveled to a rail-thin inmate after nearly two years behind bars.

He pleaded not guilty to murdering his former girlfriend and fellow UVA lacrosse player, Yeardley Love.

But prosecutors paint him as a drunken brute who broke down Love's bedroom door and savagely beat her, then left her to die in her own bed.

While prosecutors prepare for new testimony and the introduction of more evidence, people here in the D.C. area and across the country are following the trial intently.

Some keep tabs on the trial via more conventional outlets, others with new mechanisms such as Twitter.

Huguely told investigators he went to Love's apartment to make-up after a fight, that they fought, and he pushed her to the floor.

Huguely also says Love banged her head against the wall repeatedly.

Last week prosecutors played Huguely's taped interview with police in Charlottesville after they had discovered Love's body.

When detectives told him Love was dead Huguely repeated over and over, "She's dead, shes dead?"

Then he said, "I didn't hurt her. I want to see her. I don't believe you." He then dissolved into sobs.

The prosecution is expected to continue for at least one more day. Then the defense will put on its case.

Both sides likely will use Huguely's taped interview to try to bolster their arguments.


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February 13, 2012

Bruises and cuts on Yeardley Love’s body cannot be explained by a single fall or impact, the medical examiner who conducted her autopsy testified Monday.

William T. Gormley, a Virginia assistant chief medical examiner, also said that Love did not bleed from her nose, as George Huguely V recounted to police in a videotaped interview, but did have a cut inside her upper lip that could explain the blood Huguely recalled.

Gormley testified as prosecutors continued to lay out evidence they say connects Huguely to Love’s May 2010 death, calling a series of Charlottesville police officers who collected T-shirts, cargo shorts, a shower curtain and DNA samples from inside Huguely’s mouth and beneath his fingernails.

Huguely, 24, of Chevy Chase, has pleaded not guilty to murder and five other charges in the death of Love, his on-off girlfriend. Like Huguely, Love was a senior at University of Virginia and a lacrosse player. A roommate found her body May 3, 2010, face down in blood in her bed. Love, of Cockeysville, Md., was 22.

Under questioning by Huguely’s attorney, Gormley agreed that injuries to the right side of Love’s head, right eye and chin could have been suffered in one incident close to the time of her death, such as a fall. But Gormley said he couldn’t say what had caused the damage and told attorney Rhonda Quagliana that no one impact could explain the other injuries, including small oval bruises on her chest, bruises to a buttock, calf and knee, and a pair of “major bruises” on her forearm.

In his police statement aired in court, Huguely said he had shaken Love “a little bit” and “may have grabbed her a little bit around the neck.” But he said he had not strangled her or hit her in the face on the night he went to talk to her about their jeal­ousy-tinged arguments.

When he left her, Huguely said on the tape, he thought she was bleeding from her nose, but not so badly that he needed to call for medical help.

Gormley is expected to return to the stand Tuesday and has not told jurors his conclusion about what caused Love’s death. Previous hearings revealed that he ruled that she died from blunt force trauma to her head.

Huguely’s attorneys have called Love’s death a tragic accident and indicated their case will include testimony that Love could have died from an irregular heartbeat brought on by the drug Adderall, which she was prescribed for an attention disorder.

Jurors on Monday also were asked to read what was described as an “e-mail exchange” that appeared to be about four pages long. Although those e-mails have not been read aloud in court, last week prosecutors and the defense team referred to a series of angry e-mails the couple exchanged days before Love’s death that included a line from Huguely that said, “I should have killed you,” after finding out about a sexual encounter Love had with another man.

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Medical experts: blunt force trauma led to University of Virginia student's death
Published February 15, 2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va – During testimony Tuesday, medical experts said blunt force trauma, like a punch, played a role in the death of a former University of Virginia student.
Neuropathologist Christine E. Fuller described a lesion on the lower portion of student Yeardley Love's brain.
"What kind of lesion is that?" asked prosecutor Dave Chapman.
"I would call that a contusion. That's a fancy word for a bruise," Fuller responded.
Asked what the bruise would signify, Fuller replied, "It means there's been blunt force trauma to the head."
Fuller also described another injury near the base of the brain in the vicinity of the spinal cord that would have been caused by torque -- a violent twisting. That injury, she said, had potentially lethal consequences.

The prosecution witnesses testified in the first-degree murder trial of George Huguely V, who is accused of killing the 22-year-old during a violent encounter in the bedroom of her apartment on May 3, 2010.
Huguely, 24, of Chevy Chase, Md., is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Love, his on-again, off-again girlfriend and also a former U.Va. lacrosse player. Both were seniors. Love was from suburban Baltimore.
Huguely's attorneys, who have not begun their presentation, have said Love died accidentally from an irregular heartbeat partly caused by taking prescription Adderall and drinking alcohol.
Dr. Michael Gormley, who performed the autopsy on Yeardley Love, said his autopsy and subsequent examinations of her brain by other physicians leads him to believe that Love died as a result of cardiac arrhythmia, or an irregular heart, caused by blunt force trauma that injured her brain, disrupting the flow of blood to her heart.
Gormley testified that Love's blood alcohol content was above the legal limit for drunken driving and that she had amphetamines -- a class of drugs that includes Adderall -- in her system, but neither present in high enough levels cause death.
The testimony bolsters the prosecution's argument that Huguely violently attacked Love, banging her head against the wall of her bedroom.
During highly technical testimony Tuesday, Fuller testified that the bruising was found on what she described as the underside of the temporal lobe. She said it was the result of the brain moving within the skull, and compared it to a passenger in a car that comes to an abrupt halt.
Asked by Chapman what she would have concluded if she weren't aware of Love's autopsy, Fuller said, "Just looking at the brain, no history, I would have called it trauma. No question."
The testimony is important because of Huguely's claims, outlined in a police interrogation interview hours after Love was found dead, that he had grabbed Love and possibly shook her but otherwise played down their physical encounter. He claimed she had banged her head against the wall of her apartment bedroom.
On Monday, Gormley said his autopsy found evidence of suffocation, though it did not cause death, as well as a potentially deadly neck injury.
He also described a series of bruises on Love's legs, lower back, left forearm and hand and a small series of bruises on her chest, which he said could be caused by grabbing.
Love's most severe injuries were on the right side of her face. The injuries included a battered right eye, bruising to her neck and under her jaw.
Police officers have testified that Huguely had bruises on his arms and legs and knuckles the morning Love's body was found.
Huguely told a police detective who interviewed him hours after Love's body was found that his bruised knuckles were the result of a lacrosse injury.
The prosecution contends Huguely went to Love's apartment after an alcohol-fueled day of golf.
He kicked a gaping hole in the door of her bedroom door when she refused to let him in, prosecutors said.
Witnesses who testified last week described their relationship as fiery and both had accused the other of infidelities.
Two days before Love's death, Huguely accused Love in an email of having a relationship with a University of North Carolina lacrosse player, Chapman said.
"When I found out about Mike Burns, I should have killed you," the email said, according to Chapman.
Love showed the email to her teammates, who testified about it.
Huguely and Love dated for two years, but in their final year of college it became an on-again, off-again relationship, with arguments and the exchange of angry and abusive emails.
Defense attorney Francis Lawrence said the relationship drama and infidelity went both ways. A videotape of Huguely's interview with police will show he's incapable of being a calculating criminal, he told the jury.
"He's not complicated. He's not complex. He's a lacrosse player," Lawrence said.
After a week and nearly 40 witnesses, the prosecution is nearing the end of its presentation in the trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player accused in his ex-girlfriend's slaying.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Huguely could be sentenced to life in prison.


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University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of murder was very drunk, attorneys say
Published February 15, 2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va – A former university lacrosse player and the ex-girlfriend he is accused of killing traded allegations of infidelity and angry emails in the months before her death, with one of his messages saying: "I should have killed you," prosecutors said Wednesday.
George Huguely V faces first-degree murder and five other charges in the May 2010 death of Yeardley Love, who played on the University of Virginia woman's lacrosse team. During opening statements Wednesday, Huguely's attorneys said he was very drunk the night Love died and incapable of plotting to kill her. They also disputed evidence prosecutors said shows Love's head hit a wall several times and that she died of blunt-force trauma.

Prosecutor Dave Chapman said Huguely had a pattern of violence against Love, and he intended to kill her and steal her laptop computer to get rid of incriminating evidence. Two days before Love's death, Huguely accused Love in an email of having a relationship with a University of North Carolina lacrosse player, Chapman said.
"When I found out about Mike Burns, I should have killed you," the email said, according to Chapman.
Love showed the email to her teammates, who testified about it.
Huguely and Love dated for two years, but in their final year of college it became an on-again, off-again relationship, with arguments and the exchange of angry and abusive emails.
Defense attorney Francis Lawrence said the relationship drama and infidelity went both ways. A videotape of Huguely's interview with police will show he's incapable of being a calculating criminal, he told the jury.
"He's not complicated. He's not complex. He's a lacrosse player," Lawrence said.
Huguely went to Love's apartment to talk and work things out, not to kill her, Lawrence said. He took the computer as "collateral" -- a way to get her to continue to talk to him, not to destroy evidence.
The defense attorney said Huguely wasn't aware Love was dead until police informed him later. His defense contends she died from a cardiopulmonary failure caused in part by taking prescription Adderall and drinking alcohol. He also said the blood found at the base of Love's brain wasn't caused by Huguely but by forceful attempts to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The afternoon's witnesses included Love's roommates and lacrosse teammates, Kaitlin Duff and Caity Whiteley. The women discussed Love's on-again, off-again relationship with Huguely, including details of arguments and a conversation with two men's tennis players in which Love inadvertently discovered Huguely was dating another woman.
The prosecutor questioned the women about the content of the emails exchanged between Love and Huguely in the week before her death. Duff said Love told her and other teammates about the emails, but admitted she never saw the word "kill" first hand.
Whiteley said that Love did have "some sort of relationship" with Burns, the North Carolina lacrosse player who was a friend of Whiteley from high school.
The women also recounted what the three friends did in the days and hours leading up to Love's death, including many outings in which they consumed alcohol. Whiteley and Love were planning to go out the last night she saw her alive, but Whiteley said Love ended up staying in.
Whiteley and a friend discovered Love unresponsive, face down in her bed, when the two returned to the apartment in the early morning hours. She started crying as she testified about seeing blood on the bedding, along with cuts and assorted injuries on her roommate's face.

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Feb. 15, 2012

A brain expert testifying for the defense in George Huguely's murder trial claimed that Yeardley Love died by suffocating in her pillow after a day of heavy drinking, contradicting the prosecution's claim that Love died from a powerful blow to her head.

Neuropathologist Dr. Jan Leestma told the court that Love's cause of death was deprivation of blood flow and oxygen to the brain. Love was found bloody and face-down in a pillow, which would make breathing very difficult, Leestma said.

The doctor testified that the combination of Love's position and her pillow being wet from blood could have produced the lack of oxygen that led to suffocating.

This testimony is in stark contrast to the prosecution's claim that Huguely beat Love severely and then left her to die. Experts for the prosecution said that Love died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Leestma followed the defense's first witness, toxicologist Alphonse Polkis who focused on Love's blood alcohol level the night she died.

"She would've been impaired," Polkis said, referring to her judgment, coordination and emotional control with her blood alcohol level that was between 0.16 and 0.18.

Huguely's defense attorneys opened their case today with a heated exhange that briefly halted the trial.

After some shouting in the courtroom, jurors were asked to step out and the judge soon followed, leaving the attorneys inside. The audio to the media's viewing room was temporarily cut off, leaving questions as to what caused the unusual halt in proceedings.

Before the outburst, the defense asked that the first-degree murder charge and other lesser charges, be dismissed. The judge denied the motions.

"There is ample evidence to support a jury finding in all of the charges in this case," the judge said.

Earlier today, the prosecution rested its case following testimony from a number of Huguely's friends and University of Virginia lacrosse teammates.

Huguely teammate Ken Clausen testified that Huguely lied to him about where he was the night of Love's death. Huguely allegedly told Clausen that he had been in a different apartment in the building with another friend, Chris Clements, who Huguely claimed was drunk.

Clements, however, testified that he had a paper to write that day and had not had a drink all day. Clements said Huguely had banged on his door at 11:30 p.m., but he told Huguely to "go away" since he was writing his paper.

"There was no reason to lie about something like that," Clausen said, realizing that Huguely's story "wasn't adding up."

Clausen recalled asking Huguely, "What is wrong with you?" when Huguely came back to the apartment at around 12:15 a.m. Clausen did not know at the time, but Huguely was returning from his encounter with Love at her apartment.

Huguely was unresponsive.

"I asked him two more times. I got no response," Clausen testified, remembering Huguely's "blank stare."

Clausen also said that Huguely's behavior in the months leading up to Love's death had been increasingly unusual. He said Huguely's drinking was getting "ridiculous" and that he was belligerent.

Clausen's testimony was one in a line-up of Huguely's friends and teammates who dominated the courtroom today with their testimony about their contacts with Huguely the weekend of Love's death.

Three women testified about text messages they exchanged with Huguely the day before Love's death and in the hours before Huguely went to her apartment. The texts were shown only to the jurors and judge, but they were characterized as "playful" and made it seem as though Huguely had been seeking company before going to Love's apartment.

As the prosecution wrapped up its case, they called a detective to the stand who identified the last two starkly different items submitted as evidence: Love's body bag tag and a photo of her.

Prosecutors questioned nearly 50 people over about five and a half days in court.

"We know that he was in that room, that there was some conduct that caused death and the issue is what was in his mind?" University of Virginia law professor Anne Coughlin told ABCNews.com today.

"I think the jury will be persuaded that [Huguely] engaged in conduct that caused her death and there was some sufficient culpability," Coughlin said. "The issue is how culpable. How culpable was his mental state?"

Though Huguely , 24, was charged with first degree murder, along with five other charges, Coughlin anticipates that the judge will present the jurors with instructions that include a menu of options that include second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and voluntary manslaughter.

Based on what Huguely is ultimately charged with, he faces anywhere from one year to life in prison.

"So you can see the stakes involved for both sides," Coughlin said. "It's huge. And it all comes down to his mental state."

Love, 22, was a star lacrosse player at the school and a senior just weeks away from graduation. Huguely was also a lacrosse player for the school's nationally ranked team.

Today's witnesses follow a day of medical testimony in which the physical cause of Love's death was dissected by forensic pathologists and brain experts.

A brain expert who dissected Love's brain testified on Tuesday that Love experienced an injury of such great force that it "twisted" the blood vessels in her brain, causing the brain to hemorrhage.

Dr. Christine Fuller, a neuropathologist, said there was no indication of a natural cause of death and that the level of brain injury, bleeding and damage on Love's brain was caused by a powerful blow to the head.

A great amount of force is needed to twist the brain's blood vessels, more than could be sustained from falling on the ground. The injury was consistent with a head banging against a wall, Fuller said.

Love's official cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

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02/21/2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Jurors in George Huguely’s trial are scheduled to begin deliberations Wednesday (2/22) and will be asked to decide whether the former University of Virginia lacrosse player is guilty of murder, a lesser crime or none at all.

Seven men and seven women have listened to two weeks of testimony in the case, and they are to return to the courtroom at 9 a.m. Two will be randomly chosen and dismissed as alternates, leaving a dozen to decide Huguely’s fate.

Prosecutors contend that an angry Huguely went to the off-campus apartment of his sometime girlfriend, Yeardley Love, late on May 2, 2010. The two fought, and he left her unable to move and bleeding in her pillow, prosecutors said. A roommate found her dead hours later.

Defense attorneys told jurors that Huguely was drunk that night and made bad choices, but left Love alive. They urged jurors to reject a charge of premeditated murder.

“George played a role, but overwhelmingly it's a tragedy,”one of Huguely’s attorneys, Francis McQ. Lawrence, said in his closing argument.

Each side presented testimony from experts who came to different conclusions about how Love died. The Virginia medical examiner’s office ruled that she suffered blunt-force trauma to the head; a neuropathologist who testified for the defense said Love probably suffocated after she was thrown into her pillow, which was wet with blood.

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February 22, 2012

A verdict has been reached in the George Huguely V murder trial.

Huguely has been found guilty of second-degree murder -- and grand larceny.

Additionally, Huguely was found not guilty of the additional four charges.

After deliberating for about 9 hours, the jury told the judge they had reached a verdict. Earlier, the judge said he did not want to proceedings to last past 10 p.m.

Huguely, 24, faced six charges in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend Yeardley Love; first-degree murder, felony murder, robbery, burglary, statutory burglary and grand larceny. [Read more about the case]

The trial has stretched into its third week and brought with it a media contingent and national buzz, heightened more so by the constant outgoing stream of web updates and Tweets.

Closing arguments, which lasted more than four hours, were heard Saturday, Feb. 19, and then the court recessed for three days. It was a long fought, courtroom duel to try to influence Huguely's fate.

Twenty-one months have passed since Love’s body was discovered at 2:15 a.m., by her roommate who shared an off-campus apartment with Love located on 14th Street in Charlottesville.

Love's body was discovered early morning May 3, face down in her bedroom, with a pool of blood on her pillow, a large bruise on her face and one eye swollen shut. Her bedroom door had been opened only by forced entry; Huguely kicked a hole into the door and popped the lock.

In closing arguments Charlottesville Commonwealth's attorney Dave Chapman likened the act to a horror movie.

Throughout the trial Chapman attempted to prove that there was clearly a homicide intent apparent in Huguely's actions that fated night. The defense attorney's, Francis Lawrence and co-counsel Rhonda Quagliana, would frequently counter that notion, hoping to reduce the murder charge to involuntary manslaughter.

The couple displayed dramatic tendencies, with on-again off-again intimacies and multiple partners.

Lawrence admitted that Huguely bears some responsibility for Love's death. But he said the Commonwealth has been over zealous in their inaccurate portrayal of Huguely. The death of Love and the ensuing murder trial have highlighted domestic issues in the Commonwealth of Virgnia.

Lawrence said Huguely's behavior was "stupid drunk,” but not calculated.

"All the things that happened were not furtive, not stealth, not thoughtful," he said. “It was stupid, unthoughtful, loud and clumsy."

Huguely has a past record. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to two charges - resisting arrest and public swearing and intoxication - in Rockbridge County, about 55 miles southwest of Charlottesville, according to court records. He paid a $100 fine and about $80 in court costs and was released on supervised probation with a 60-day suspended jail sentence.

Here are the statutory penalty ranges for each charge:

First-degree murder: Whether as premeditated or as felony murder, ranges from 20 years to life.
Second-degree murder: Ranges from 5 to 40 years.
Second-degree murder: Ranges from 5 to 40 years.
Manslaughter: Voluntary or involuntary, ranges from 0 to 10 years.
Burglary: He is charged with two counts of burglary, but he only went in once, so although the jury could find him guilty under both indictments, the judge would actually sentence him under only one of the following two counts:
Statutory burglary ranges from 0 to 20 years.
Burglary (not to be confused with statutory burglary) ranges from 5 to 20 years.
Grand larceny ranges from 0 to 20 years.
Robbery ranges from 5 years to life.
A judge can change the jury's recommendation, and can lower sentencing, but not increase it.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Jurors on Wednesday found former University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend, NBC News reported.
Huguely of Chevy Chase, Md., was charged in the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love, whose body was found battered, bleeding and bruised in the bedroom of her Charlottesville apartment in the early hours of May 3, 2010.
The jury of seven men and five women also found Huguely guilty of grand larceny but not guilty on four other charges: felony murder in the commission or attempted commission of a robbery; robbery; burglary - breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny; and statutory burglary - breaking and entering with intent to commit assault and battery.

Huguely, 24, did not visibly react to the verdict, and there was no overt sign of emotion from families of the victim and the defendant.
He could be sentenced to five to 40 years on the guilty verdict, which the jury returned after nine hours of deliberations. With the grand larceny verdict, the sentence could be up to 60 years.
Jurors who convicted Huguely immediately began hearing testimony in the sentencing phase, which included a tearful responses from Love's mother, Sharon Love, and Yeardley's older sister, Lexie.
“Every day is different,” Sharon Love said. “We've done the best we can to do something positive in Yeardley's name, but some days are unbearable."
The defense called no witnesses, NBC News said, and the jury received sentencing instructions.
Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player on the women's team, was found face down on her pillow. Her right eye was swollen and bruised, she had marks on her chest that suggested she was grabbed and had injuries around her jaw and inside her mouth and neck. Jurors heard several potentially lethal consequences of such injuries. A coroner concluded the young woman from suburban Baltimore died of blunt force trauma.
In a police interrogation video viewed by jurors, Huguely said he went to Love's apartment to talk about their sputtering, two-year relationship and she "freaked out" when he broke into her room. Their encounter quickly turned physical, with Huguely admitting he may have shaken her but insisting he didn't grab her neck or punch her. He also claimed she repeatedly banged her head on the bedroom wall.
A medical expert for the defense testified that Love likely was smothered, her face buried in her own blood-dampened pillow. Huguely's defense team has also suggested Love's death was the result of drinking and a prescription drug she took for attention-deficit disorder. A coroner said both substances were in her body but not in potentially lethal doses.
The prosecution painted a much more sinister scenario.
Huguely went to her apartment less than one week after he sent her a threatening email about her relationship with a North Carolina lacrosse player.
In the email, Huguely wrote that when he found out about the relationship, "I should have killed you."
Prosecutor Dave Chapman portrayed Huguely as intent on controlling Love. He came to her apartment to physically impose his will, kicking a hole in her bedroom door and reaching in and unlocking the door, the prosecutor said.
"That's the beginning of terror, ladies and gentlemen," said Chapman, who seemed to sob as he began closing arguments Saturday. "It's just unimaginable what that woman went through and you know it."
Then 210 pounds and nearly a foot taller than Love, Huguely battered her face and likely held her down by her neck and covered her mouth, the prosecutor said.
Prosecution medical experts said her death, which came about two hours after Huguely left, could have been caused by a loss of blood flow from the carotid artery. They also testified about bruising on her brain - the result of her brain striking the interior of her skull - and blood pooling near her brain stem. The latter was likely caused by a wrenching or torqueing of the head, experts testified.
Chapman said Huguely left Love's apartment with her laptop computer, tossing it in a trash bin in an apparent attempt to hide incriminating emails. The alleged computer theft was critical in the prosecution's case. Chapman sought a conviction on felony murder, saying Love was fatally injured during a robbery.
In his closing arguments, defense attorney Francis McQ. Lawrence described Huguely as hulking, hard-drinking jock but no killer. He acknowledged Huguely had an unintended, accidental role in Love's death, arguing for a finding of involuntary manslaughter and a 10-year prison term.
Huguely, a member of a well-to-do Washington family, was a "boy athlete" and he and Love lived in what Lawrence described as a "lacrosse ghetto" where drinking, sexually charged relationships and emotional outbursts were the norm among elite athletes.
Huguely now bears little resemblance to the stocky 6-foot, Division I athlete of nearly two years ago. He is about 30-40 pounds lighter and pasty from his time in jail awaiting trial. He did not testify during the trial.
Jurors have asked to view a police interrogation video recorded hours after Love's death in which he reacted incredulously when told Love was dead.
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Poor Georgie Boy!

To be that young and know you're spending the rest of your life in prison is horrible!! He did this to himself!

Ex-University of Virginia lacrosse player may seek retrial

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Lawyers for a former University of Virginia lacrosse player convicted in the beating death of his ex-girlfriend have asked a judge for a hearing on a motion to have the case retried.
George Huguely and his lawyers appeared in Charlottesville Circuit Court on Friday on a separate motion filed on behalf of several media outlets seeking to have the trial's evidence made public.
Judge Edward Hogshire gave media attorney Robert Yates two weeks to come up with a proposal on the best way to make the evidence available. Yates was representing several media outlets, including The Washington Post and Gannett Co. Inc.
The Daily Progress reports Huguely lawyer Francis McQ. Lawrence also asked for a hearing on a "motion for retrial." No details were given.
"It's not mere speculation that we might end up back here, trying this case again," Huguely attorney Rhonda Quagliana told Hogshire.
If the case would be retried, Quagliana said the task of seating a jury in Charlottesville in the future "absolutely could get worse" if the trial's evidence is made public.
"The people who will have access to these materials are not all responsible journalists," Quagliana told Hogshire. "The Internet does a lot of weird things to reporting."
Yates and Quagliana disagreed over whether previous cases prove the First Amendment applies to judicial records.
Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Chapman also asked the judge to keep the evidence under seal.
The 24-year-old Huguely of Chevy Chase, Md., appeared in a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs at the hearing. He was found guilty of second-degree murder on Feb. 22 and faces 26 years in prison in the 2010 death of U.Va. women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love. No sentencing date has been set.


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Ex-University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely sued by victim's mom

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The mother of slain University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love has filed a $30.5 million lawsuit against the former men's lacrosse player convicted of murdering her daughter.
Sharon Love filed the lawsuit against George Huguely V on Thursday in Charlottesville Circuit Court, saying he was responsible for her 22-year-old daughter's death, The Daily Progress reported. She is seeking nearly $29.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.
Huguely, 24, of Chevy Chase, Md., was convicted in February of second-degree murder and grand larceny in Yeardley Love's May 2010 death. A jury has recommended that he serve 26 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 30.
Attorneys for Sharon Love and Huguely did not immediately return phone messages left at their offices on Thursday.
Sharon Love, who lives in suburban Maryland, alleges that Huguely "failed to use ordinary care, leading to an accident for which he was responsible that resulted in the injuries and death of Love," according to court documents.
Huguely also "acted with such indifference to Love that his conduct constituted an utter disregard of caution amounting to a complete neglect of safety for Love," the lawsuit said.

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Does Huguely's family have that kind of money?? I know Sharon Love is in major distress and hurt that w/Never go away but no amount of money w/bring her daughter back.

A Virginia judge sentenced George Huguely, a former University of Virginia lacrosse player, to 23 years in prison Thursday for the beating death of his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, in an argument at her off-campus apartment in 2010.

Huguely, who will turn 25 on Sept. 17, had faced a maximum of 26 years – the amount recommended by the jury – after being convicted in February of second-degree murder.

His lawyers had appealed to Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward L. Hogshire to reduce that to 14 years, offering testimonials from family and friends claiming his crime was out of character for him, The Washington Post reported.

Love's mother Sharon and sister Lexie were in the courtroom for the sentencing. (Love's father died of cancer in 2003.)

Huguely had admitted to having a fight with Love, 22, that got physical, but denied he ever meant to kill her. He was found not guilty of the more serious charge of first-degree murder.

On Sept. 9, Love's high-school alma mater, Notre Dame Prep in Towson, Md., will dedicate a $1.2 million turf field in her honor.

Love's sister Lexie – who was three years older than Yeardley, but often mistaken for her sister – is also set to be married in September.
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:cheering: :cheering: :cheering: :cheering:

By KEVIN DOLAK (@kdolak)
Sept. 20, 2012

The family of Yeardley Love, the college senior who was murdered by ex-boyfriend George Huguely, said today that they were shocked when they found out about Huguely's violent past and had urged Yeardley to get a restraining order against him.

Love, 22, was killed by Huguely, 25, in a drunken rage on May 3, 2010, just weeks before she was to graduate. Both played on the University of Virginia's elite lacrosse teams.

In an appearance on ABC's "Katie" today, Love's mother, Sharon Love, and her sister Lexie Love, recalled their growing concern over Yeardley Love's former boyfriend, a worry that Yeardley seemed to dismiss.

In the weeks after her death, reports emerged that Huguely had a series of violent outbursts and that he once had to be tasered by a female police officer who he had threatened. He also sent Yeardley Love a furious email in a jealous rage saying that he should have killed her.

"I never knew anybody that had done such things like that. It was shocking," Lexie Love told Couric.

Lexie Love also said that she recommended that Yeardley obtain a restraining order against Huguely.

"I think she didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal," Lexie Love said. "That that was it. They were over, and she wasn't going to be seeing him much anymore."

Huguely was convicted on Feb. 22 of second-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

"Watch the full interview with the family of Yeardley Love today at 3 p.m. ET on "Katie"

Prior to the murder Huguely had several run-ins with the law, many of which were displays of violent behavior. Three of these instances are outlined in a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit that Sharon Love has filed against the coaches at the University of Virginia.

In 2007, Huguely was charged and convicted of possession of alcohol by a minor. In 2008, he was charged and later convicted of public intoxication and resisting arrest in an incident where he became violent with a female police officer. And in 2009, an intoxicated Huguely "viciously attacked a fellow varsity lacrosse team member" when he found the teammate had been seen with Love, who was his girlfriend at the time.

During his trial, prosecutors said that an enraged Huguely kicked through the door of Yeardley Love's bedroom the night she died and shook her, banging her head against the wall, before leaving her battered and bleeding. A bloody Love was later found face-down on her bed by a roommate. Her face was covered in scrapes and bruises, according to a police warrant, and her right eye was swollen shut.

Appearing on "Katie," Sharon Love recalls when a police officer arrived at her home to give her the terrible news that her daughter was dead.

"When he asked me if I was Yeardley's mother, I knew something horrible had happened and I kind of shut down," she said.

Sharon Love also said that she is satisfied with how Huguely's trial unfolded.

"I felt like the jury did their job. I think they took it very seriously," she said. "Mr. Chapman, the district attorney, did the best he could, and I think the jury did the best they could.

"Of course, as a mother of Yeardley, you'd always like to see more, but I'm satisfied with the verdict because I think everybody took their job seriously and did it well," she said.

Lexie Love also spoke on "Katie" about the experience of sitting in the same room with the man who killed her sister, who was described by friends as compassionate, fun and kindhearted.

"My heart was beating really fast the whole time," she said. "I kept thinking, 'That's what Yeardley saw, that's the last thing she saw,' and I kept running that through my head over and over again. Then I would think about the situation that night, and it just brought back horrible thoughts."

Today the Love family, through the One Love foundation which it created, is launching phase one of their "Be 1 for Change" initiative, which aims to serve as the base of a long-term campaign to combat relationship violence in the United States. The initiative has launched a free, anonymous danger assessment application, which is available for smart phones, and a public service announcement to be aired nationally.

Learn more about the One Love Foundation here
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"The development of the app and the PSA is a big first step in our long-term plan to change the perception of relationship violence and combat this intolerable behavior," Sharon Love said.

Click here to view a the One Love Foundation's Public Service Announcement
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Speaking in court earlier this year, Sharon Love expressed how she wants to work through her pain to effect constructive change for young people.

"Sometimes you think you can bear it and do something positive," she said. "Some days, it's unbearable. It never goes away."

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