George Huguely Guilty: Ex-UVA Lacrosse Player Convicted of Murder
Former University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V was found guilty of second-degree murder in the brutal beating death of his ex-girlfriend, also a UVA lacrosse player.
A jury found Huguely, 24, guilty in the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love, ABC News reports. Huguely now faces up to 60 years in prison.
Love, a star UVA lacrosse player, was just weeks away from graduating when a roommate found her beaten, face-down, in a pool of blood in May 2010. Huguely admitted he and Love got into an argument that involved "wrestling," but denied killing her.
Huguely's lacrosse murder conviction shows jurors didn't buy it.
Prosecutors portrayed the ex-UVA lacrosse player as a violent man. They read jurors an email in which Huguely told Love, "I should have killed you," after finding out she'd been with another man, ABC News reports.
Defense lawyers pointed to George Huguely's problems with alcohol, and insisted Love and Huguely had both behaved badly during their troubled relationship.
George Huguely V was charged with first-degree murder -- a killing that is both willful and premeditated. But after about nine hours of deliberation, jurors instead found Huguely guilty of second-degree murder -- an intentional killing that is not premeditated, or that is caused by a perpetrator's reckless conduct or wanton disregard for human life.
Huguely was also convicted of grand larceny, another term for theft, in connection with his taking of a laptop from Love's apartment.
Jurors will now consider arguments regarding George Huguely V's punishment, as Virginia law empowers a jury to make sentencing recommendations, the sports blog SB Nation reports. The ex-UVA lacrosse player faces up to 40 years in prison for his second-degree murder conviction, and up to 20 years in prison for the laptop theft.
Related Resources:
- George Huguely found guilty of second-degree murder (USA Today)
- UVA Lacrosse Murder Trial Begins for George Huguely (FindLaw's Blotter)
- Browse Criminal Defense Lawyers by Location (FindLaw)
- Homicide (FindLaw)