Jury selection has begun in the trial of George Huguely V, a University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his former girlfriend.
A panel of 12 jurors and three alternates will be chosen to decide Huguely’s fate in Charlottesville Circuit Court. Huguely, 24, is accused of brutally beating 22-year-old Yeardley Love to death in May 2010.
Jury selection in the high-profile case is expected to last two days, with 160 potential jurors brought in for questioning. The judge and attorneys in the case expect to question 80 jurors Monday; if a panel is not selected from that group, another 80 will be questioned Tuesday.
At a hearing last month, Judge Edward Hogshire said the jurors would be questioned one-at-a-time on issues like what they have heard about the case, whether they have formed an opinion and whether they can be impartial. For other questions, the jurors will be questioned as group.
Huguely could face life in prison if he is convicted of first-degree murder, the most serious charge against him. He was also indicted on charges of felony murder, robbery, burglary, entering a house with intent to commit a felony and grand larceny.
The trial is expected to last about two weeks.
The defense has challenged a medical examiner’s finding that Love died from blunt force trauma to the head. Huguely admitted during police questioning that he shook Love and her head hit a wall, documents say. The defense says Huguely did not know Love was dead when he left the apartment and contends that she died from an irregular heartbeat partially caused by mixing an attention deficit disorder medication and alcohol.
