As George Huguely V’s former lacrosse team reaches the pinnacle of the season this weekend with an appearance in the NCAA’s Final Four, Huguely remains locked up in a jail cell 23 hours a day, with a single hour to either shower, make phone calls or ride a stationary bike. It was nearly 13 months ago that Huguely, 23, was handcuffed and charged with murdering his college girlfriend and fellow University of Virginia lacrosse player, Yeardley Love.
He will spend at least the next eight months in jail awaiting his Feb. 6 trial, after a grand jury indicted him last month for first-degree and felony murder.
As Huguely awaits his Feb. 6 trial, the last year has wrought financial trouble on his family. The federal government placed a half-million-dollar tax lien on Huguely’s father, George W. Huguely IV, in February of this year for unpaid taxes, according to court documents obtained by The Washington Examiner.
The former Landon School star who was raised in Chevy Chase admitted to police that he fought with Love the night that police found her bruised and bloodied body face-down on her bed in Charlottesville. Huguely admitted that he shook Love’s head against a wall and saw blood dripping from her nose before he pushed her onto the bed, stole her computer and left.
Love’s death was ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma to the head. When paramedics found her, Love’s right eye was black and swollen shut.
But Huguely’s lawyers are arguing that Love, who had a blood alcohol content of .14 that night, did not die at the hands of Huguely.
Defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana says a small trace of prescription Adderall found in Love’s system could have weakened her heart and contributed to her death.
Quagliana says her death was an accident, arguing that Huguely had no idea Love was dead when police brought him in for questioning.
“There is nothing I did to her last night that could have killed her,” Quagliana recalled Huguely saying.
A grand jury didn’t buy that argument, however, and indicted Huguely on charges of first-degree and felony murder, a sentence that carries a minimum sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
