Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the trial of former U. Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely. Huguely is accused of murdering fellow University lacrosse player Yeardley Love.
In May 2010, Love was discovered lying unresponsive in a pool of blood by two friends. There were signs of forced entry into her bedroom, and she had suffered a bruise to her face likely caused by blunt force trauma.
The scene the police found prompted an investigation, which led officials to Huguely, Love’s ex-boyfriend. Huguely and Love argued the night of Love’s death, and Huguely disposed of Love’s personal laptop as he left angrily, according to a court affidavit.
Love’s death set off a chain of events which would be felt throughout the entire University. Police called University Dean of Students Allen Groves at about 2:15 a.m., informing him of Love’s death. Groves met Patricia Lampkin, vice president and chief student affairs officer, just 45 minutes later at the Rotunda. By 9 a.m. the same day, both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams knew about Love’s death.
A murder trial in Charlottesville
The court ultimately charged Huguely with first-degree murder, and he has been in Charlottesville jail awaiting today’s start to his trial.
Twenty one months after Love’s death, Huguely’s trial will likely focus on whether he was in the mental state necessary to merit the first-degree murder conviction the prosecution seeks.
“Our system puts a premium on identifying and proving … this culpable mental state,” Law Prof. Anne Coughlin said.
If the jury fails to determine Huguely acted with “malice or forethought,” Coughlin said he could receive a lesser sentence of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
As the Charlottesville community deliberates on its own verdict, faculty, students and Charlottesville residents look to each other for support in dealing with the issues surrounding this case, which range from domestic violence to how individuals cope with personal tragedy.
Linda Bullock, an intimate partner violence researcher in the Nursing School, said a supportive community is the best way to prevent domestic violence tragedies.
“We know that many women don’t recognize that they’re in a violent relationship because many women want the violence to stop but not the relationship,” Bullock said.
Bullock added that the commitment to preventing domestic violence must span both genders.
“Another thing we need to start doing is educating our young men,” Bullock said. “We need to start educating our men to be loving individuals.”
Policy changes
Administrators have exhibited a commitment to maintaining a higher standard in the University community since Love’s death. Shortly after Love’s death, University officials learned Huguely had previously been arrested in Lexington, Va. for resisting arrest and being drunk in public. That information led administrators to reexamine a University policy requiring students to disclose prior arrests.
“The [reporting convictions] policy had been in place since 2004,” Groves said. The policy was instated after former University student Andrew Alston was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for stabbing volunteer firefighter Walter Sisk to death on the Corner Nov. 8, 2003.
Before Love’s death, the policy had asked students to report convictions to the Office of the Dean of Students. After Love’s death, however, Groves and other administrators implemented a more rigorous enforcement of the policy via the University’s online Student Information System.
Using the new system, 650 disclosures occurred in Fall 2010 and 350 in Fall 2011, which far outstripped previous reporting statistics, Groves said.
“It’s made a huge difference,” Groves said. “The fact that we’ve brought the policy to the attention of students means that we’re getting a lot more info than we ever got before … I think it’s possible that they didn’t know about the policy.”
Ultimately, Groves said he can only speculate what the University might have done with the knowledge of Huguely’s prior arrests.
“I would’ve liked [an] opportunity to have engaged him at that time because it may have made a difference,” Groves said.
Facing charges
The high-profile trial comes nearly two years after Love’s death, a significant period of time Coughlin believes might suggest possible earlier plea negotiations.
“Upwards of 95 percent of cases are settled by a plea bargain,” Coughlin said. “Typically defendants do not want to sit cooling their heels in jail. You want to get the trial over with … The only speculation we’ve been able to come up with is perhaps there have been plea negotiations going on.”
Law Prof. Darryl Brown, however, said the time for Huguely to enter a plea bargain has passed.
Huguely faces two charges of first-degree murder. One charge alleges that the murder was a willful, deliberate and premeditated act. The second charge of first-degree murder reflects the prosecutor’s contention that Huguely committed the murder in the commission of another felony. Huguely is also accused of taking Love’s personal computer and discarding it in a dumpster.
If Huguely is ultimately convicted of first-degree murder, he could face life in prison. Coughlin acknowledged, however, the wide range of possible outcomes which depend on the findings of the 12 individuals who comprise the jury. If prosecutors fail to establish the element of premeditation, then Huguely could face a second-degree murder conviction. Moreover, if the jury determines that his actions were not willful and instead occurred in the heat of passion, he could face an even lesser conviction of voluntary manslaughter.
“It’s mental state that will determine whether someone goes to jail for one year or for life,” Coughlin said.
After jury selection, Huguely will have to decide whether or not he will take the stand and give Commonwealth attorneys the opportunity to confront him with questions they have been waiting 21 months to ask.
“He could be the best source of evidence about his state of mind,” Brown said.