George Huguely Trial Postponed Because of Illness
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — George Huguely V’s murder trial resumed briefly Friday over his objections but went into recess a few witnesses later because his defense attorney is sick. Huguely preferred not to proceed without both his lawyers, but the judge initially decided to carry on.
Defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana’s unspecified illness forced the court to postpone the trial Thursday, and defense co-counsel Fran Lawrence arrived to court solo Friday morning with word that she was still ill. Quagliana has handled the defense’s medical experts.
“We will not have any difficulty finishing tomorrow,” Lawrence reassured the judge.
But the judge later postponed the session after Lawrence informed the court that Quagliana was too ill to defend her client. Court will resume at 9 a.m. Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., and not again until Wednesday.
The medical experts Quagliana has been preparing to question are key to Huguely’s defense. He has been charged with first-degree murder, but his defense attorneys said in opening statements that the most serious charge jurors should consider is involuntary manslaughter.
The prosecution has alleged that Huguley, after a day of heavy drinking, beat Yeardley Love in her bedroom and then left her to die. Experts for the prosecution said that Love died from blunt force trauma to the head. Both of them were lacrosse players at the University of Virginia.
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