Man convicted in UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love's 2010 murder expected to testify in civil trial
A jury was selected Monday in the civil trial of a man who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2010 death of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love.
A wrongful death lawsuit brought by Love's mother seeks to hold George Huguely liable in Yeardley's killing. Love and Huguely — who also played lacrosse at UVA — were in an on-again, off-again dating relationship. The lawsuit seeks $29.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.
Huguely will be brought to court from prison on the day he is scheduled to testify, but not on the other days of the trial, his attorney said.
Eleven jurors were chosen to hear the case, including seven regular jurors and four alternates. The trial in Charlottesville Circuit Court is expected to last about eight days. Opening statements are Tuesday.
Love, of Cockeysville, Maryland, and Huguely, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, were both seniors who were weeks away from graduation. They were known for their play on UVA's nationally ranked men's and women's lacrosse teams, but also for their volatile relationship.
Prosecutors said Huguely kicked a hole in Love's bedroom door, then beat her after a day of golf and binge drinking, enraged that she had had a relationship with a lacrosse player from North Carolina.
A medical examiner concluded the 22-year-old Love died of blunt force trauma to her head, but defense and prosecution experts offered differing medical opinions on the lethal consequences of her injuries.
During the jury selection process Monday, many of the potential jurors told Judge Richard Moore they had read or heard media reports about the case after Yeardley was killed or during Huguely's criminal trial in 2012. Moore dismissed three potential jurors who said they had formed an opinion about the case and would be unable to put that opinion aside to serve as jurors in the civil case.
The civil trial is expected to include many of the same witnesses, although many of them are expected to testify in videotaped depositions instead of in person.
Huguely's attorney, Matthew Green, said the defense will acknowledge that Huguely's assault and battery caused Love's death and that her family is entitled to compensatory damages in an amount to be decided by the jury. But he said the defense does not believe punitive damages are appropriate.
Love's mother and sister, and Huguely's mother, were present in the courtroom on Monday. Love's family spoke to CBS Baltimore in 2013 about their loss.
"You keep thinking and believing that this isn't real. Just a little feeling in the back of your mind that she's going to walk through the door," her sister Lexie Love said.
Jurors in Huguely's 2012 first-degree murder trial viewed a police interrogation video that was recorded hours after Love's body was found in her apartment.
"I have to tell you something," Det. Lisa Reeves told Huguely after he had answered questions about the night's events. "She's dead. You killed her."
"She's dead? How is she dead?" Huguely asked repeatedly. "Please, please tell me she is not dead."
"George, I wish I could, but I can't do that. She's 22-years-old and the life's gone out of her," Reeves said.
Before finding out Love was dead, Huguely told police in his video-taped statement that when he went to see his former girlfriend the night of her death he told her to "chill out" and "shook her a little."
"We were just going to talk," Huguely told the officer in the video.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct Yeardley Love's name in the headline.