Jurors getting murder case of former U.Va. player

[February 22, 2012]  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Jurors in the murder trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player will decide whether he fatally battered his ex-girlfriend in a drunken, jealous rage or if his intent to simply talk spiraled out of control, leaving her bleeding and dying in her bedroom.

The jury in George Huguely's first-degree murder trial is scheduled to begin weighing those two versions of the waning minutes of March 2, 2010, when it begins deliberations Wednesday after a three-day break in the Circuit Court trial.

Huguely, 24, of Chevy Chase, Md., could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of murder in the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love, whose lifeless body was found in the early hours of May 3, 2010. Jurors can also consider lesser charges, including manslaughter and second-degree murder.

Love, a suburban Baltimore woman and U.Va. woman's lacrosse player, 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, inside her mouth and neck. A coroner concluded she died of blunt force trauma. Jurors heard several potentially lethal consequences of such injuries.

The final 15 minutes the two seniors spent together likely will be critical to the jury's deliberations.

Huguely, in a police interrogation video viewed by jurors, 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 shook 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 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 paints a much more sinister scenario.

Huguely went to her apartment less than one week after he sent her a threatening email about her apparent physical 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, who presented about 50 witnesses over nine days of testimony, portrayed Huguely as intent on controlling Love and came to her apartment to physically impose his will, kicking a hole in her bedroom door and reaching in and unlocking the door.

Chapman described the entrance as a scene out of a horror movie.

"That's the beginning of terror, ladies and gentlemen," said Chapman, who seemed to sob as he began his 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, explaining her injuries.

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 critical carotid artery. They also testified of 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 is critical because Chapman is seeking a conviction on felony murder for Love's death while in the process of 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, 200-pound Division I athlete of nearly two years ago. He is now about 30-40 pounds lighter and pasty from his time in jail awaiting trial. He did not testify during the trial.

[Associated Press; By STEVE SZKOTAK]

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