UVA Lacrosse Player Murder Trial to Begin Monday - East Idaho News
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UVA Lacrosse Player Murder Trial to Begin Monday

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GETTY N 110211 LawGavelCourt?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1328528905037Hemera/Thinkstock(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — The trial of a young man accused of murdering his girlfriend, University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love, is expected to begin on Monday.

Love’s murder shocked the University of Virginia campus when the 22-year-old was found face down and bloodied in her Charlottesville, Va., apartment in the early morning hours of May 3, 2010.  Fellow lacrosse player and romantic interest George Huguely, 23, was charged with her murder.

Details of what happened between the couple suggests that just three days before Love was found dead she had lashed out against Huguely, according to two search warrant affidavits.

One of Love’s sorority sisters told authorities that she witnessed an “altercation” between her friend and Huguely during which, “Love hit Huguely with her purse” hard enough to cause all of its contents to be strewn about his apartment.

Later, the friend told police Love realized that her cellphone and camera were missing, and that she, “believed it was still at Huguely’s apartment.” Love recovered the camera, but never got her cellphone back, according to the statement.

Days later, Love was dead and Huguely slapped with a first-degree murder charge.

A redacted email exchange between Love and Huguely is also included in the court documents and is believed to have contained discussion of the couple’s recent breakup.

Huguely’s attorney has long argued that Love’s murder was a tragic mistake, and Huguely at the time waved his Miranda rights and told authorities exactly what had happened the night she was killed.

Huguely confessed to police, according to search warrants in the case, that in the early morning hours of May 3, 2010, he kicked in the door to Love’s bedroom and shook her violently, repeatedly banging her head against the wall.  Love’s body was found later that day 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.

Defense attorneys for Huguely have argued that the girl’s death was caused by drugs — the attention deficit disorder drug Adderall was found in her system — and not by a brutal beating that left her battered and bloodied.

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