Jury convicts Huguely, recommends up to 26 years

Just before 7 p.m. Wednesday evening, jurors found George Huguely guilty of second-degree murder and grand larceny in the death of ex-girlfriend Yeardley Love.

After further deliberations, the jury issued the case’s sentencing guidelines, which could put Huguely behind bars for as much as 26 years.

Huguely, 24, stood between members of his defense team, Rhonda Quagliana and Francis McQ. Lawrence, as Judge Edward Hogshire read the jury’s guilty verdicts. Huguely showed no emotion as the verdicts were read.

“There will be no outbursts in the courtroom,” Hogshire said prior to the verdict’s delivery. He asked those in the courtroom to “remain quiet and respectful.” They obeyed and silence prevailed.

Given further time, the jury recommended a sentence of 25 years for second-degree murder and one year for grand larceny.

Huguely was charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, robbery, burglary, statutory burglary and grand larceny after fellow University of Virginia lacrosse player and fourth-year student Love was found dead in her apartment on May 3, 2010.

The first-degree murder charge was downgraded to second-degree murder, though the defense attempted to convince the jury that Huguely was guilty of no more than involuntary manslaughter.

In the commonwealth of Virginia, intoxication is a defense against first-degree murder because a drunk person might not have the mental capacity to premeditate a killing. Witness testimony revealed that Huguely had been drinking heavily during the day preceding Love’s death. This point was argued heavily by the defense throughout the trial and may have impacted the jury’s decision.

The jury found Huguely not guilty of felony murder, robbery, burglary and statutory burglary.

Following the verdict Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from Love’s mother and sister before returning to closed chambers to determine the case’s sentencing range.

Sharon Love, Yeardley’s mother, testified that she was home alone at 6 a.m. when a police officer delivered the news that her daughter was dead.

“I barely remember what I did that morning,” she told jurors.

She said she had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that her daughter was gone.

“When Yeardley’s friends would come into the room, I thought she would be behind them, but she wouldn’t,” Sharon Love testified.

She said she had been looking forward to both her daughters’ weddings and to having grandchildren.

“Every year that goes by, I’m afraid that I’m forgetting little pieces about her,” she said. “That just worries me.”

Lexie Love, who has been accompanied by her fiancé every day of the trial, told jurors about the hole left in her life by her sister’s death. She said that though she is happy, she constantly misses her sister.

“I can’t wait to get married, but something is missing, and I can’t overlook that,” she said through her tears.

She told jurors that she had promised her father before his death that she would look after the family.

“The absolute worst thing in the world that could ever happen, happened,” she said.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman praised the jury that convicted George Huguely and asked them to find justice.

“Somebody’s little girl didn’t wake up in the morning,” he said.

The defense called no witnesses to testify prior to the sentencing phase, though there had been indications Huguely’s family might speak.

Defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana told jurors that it was “appropriate” and “necessary” to consider the impact of the murder on Love’s family, but reminded them “… our system is not based on retribution or revenge.”

“The penalty you impose will be served day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year,” she said.

Quagliana asked jurors to “consider the impact on George,” and to do so “without feeling that does any injustice to the Loves.”

“Know that the verdict is your decision,” she said. “It needs to be a verdict respectful of emotion, but based on the law and evidence of what you know is right.”

She reminded them of Huguely, in his interrogation room, begging police to tell him Love wasn’t really dead.

Perhaps the most damning evidence against Huguely during his two-week trial was a series of heated emails between him and Love in the days leading up to her death. The conflict began when Love entered Huguely’s apartment uninvited and beat him over the head with her purse after finding him in his living room with two girls she did not know.

Love sent Huguely an email saying that she had slept with another man who had outperformed Huguely in bed. Huguely responded: “I should have killed you. You should have killed me. You’re so [expletive] up.”

Huguely entered Love’s apartment around midnight on May 2. In a video recording of his police interrogation, he repeatedly told investigators that he “just wanted to talk.” He would be the last person to see Love alive.

In his closing argument Saturday evening, Chapman cited that recording, in which Huguely said Love was “freaking out” when she saw him in her room that night. He reminded jurors that on the tape, Huguely physically demonstrated how she recoiled to a corner of her room when he entered.

“Isn’t that a scene from a horror movie?” Chapman asked jurors during his closing arguments. “Can you imagine what it’s like for the person inside [the bedroom]?”

During the interrogation tape, Huguely admitted to kicking down Love’s door to get to her, and also to shaking her when she became “aggressive.” He said the two wrestled on Love’s bedroom floor, but stopped when he noticed Love’s nose was bleeding. He told investigators that he “stood up and pushed” Love on to her bed and told her to “go to bed” before he left her apartment.

Huguely told investigators that he was in Love’s apartment for less than ten minutes, and that he thought she was lying on her back as he exited her bedroom.

In the recording, Huguely seemed not to know that Love had died until told so by police.

“She’s not dead. She’s not. She’s not. I don’t believe you,” he told police, his voice sounding distraught. “I’d never do anything to her. I love her.”

Huguely said that he was not responsible for her death.

“I never did anything that could do that to her, I swear to God,” he told investigators. Shortly thereafter, he dissolved into tears. His words were hysterical and unintelligible as the tape ended. Huguely cried anew when the video was played in court.

Medical experts for the prosecution testified that Love died because her brain stem was injured when her head was whipped violently around. One of the experts indicated that tests done on Love’s brain showed she survived two to six hours after sustaining her injuries. A timeline from other witnesses seemed to narrow that range down to its shorter end.

The defense’s medical testimony was disrupted after improper emails between Quagliana and the defense’s expert witnesses surfaced. Quagliana had communicated details of previous testimony with a trio of her team’s own hired doctors. Dr. Jack Daniel was not permitted to testify, and a second doctor was only allowed to speak only on a short list of topics. A third expert had already testified, and was not stricken from the record.

In the defense’s closing arguments, Lawrence said that Love likely died from positional asphyxia, meaning that she was unable to breath properly because of the way she was laying on her bed. Her body was discovered in a facedown position.

Though jurors have recommended a sentence for Huguely, he will not face a sentencing hearing until later this year. Hogshire will have the opportunity to review the jury’s recommendations, and then assign the specific sentence that Huguely will serve. Hogshire may lower, but not raise, the recommended sentence length.