CHARLOTTESVILLE,Va. — Defense attorneys for murder suspect George Huguely challenged a medical examiner’s finding that his girlfriend Yeardley Love was fatally beaten, saying drugs in her system and even attempts to revive her may have contributed to her death. Defense lawyer Francis McQ. Lawrence argued before a judge on Wednesday that Love’s skull and brain injuries were not serious enough to kill her. Virginia’s chief medical examiner ruled Love, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, died from blunt force trauma to the head in July, two months after police found her bloodied body in the early morning hours of May 3 in her campus apartment. “We have serious issues as to the cause of death,” Lawrence said before Judge Robert H. Downer Jr. Wednesday morning. He petitioned the court for access to Love’s medical records dating back four to six years, to find out whether she was taking any prescription drugs or had any pre-existing conditions that could have contributed to her death.
Huguely, a 23-year-old U.Va. lacrosse player who graduated from Landon School in Bethesda, has been held without bond since Love’s death. The Washington Examiner reported Monday that Virginia prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty in the case, and that sources close to the case expect a plea deal before trial.
Defense lawyer Lawrence focused on the drug Adderall, an amphetamine medical examiners found in trace levels in Love’s bloodstream.
Prosecutor Dave Chapman said Love was legally prescribed to the drug, which is typically given for attention deficit disorder.
Examiners traced less than 0.05 millimeters of Adderall per liter of blood in Love, and measured her blood alcohol content at 0.14 percent — the amount equal to roughly four 12-ounce beers for a woman Love’s size — according to William Gormley, the medical examiner who performed Love’s autopsy.
Lawrence and co-counsel Rhonda Quagliana, argued that the Adderall could have made Love particularly sensitive to cardiac arrest. They also suggested that 24 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation that was performed by first responders on Love the night she died could have caused her internal bleeding. The defense called on Virginia’s former medical examiner, Jack Daniel, to back up the claim.
“Without internal findings that are more significant, blunt force trauma can’t reasonably be said to be the cause of death,” said Daniel, who is now a medical consultant.
Quagliana said, “[Love] was not badly beaten.”
Gormley described internal bleeding in two spots near the base of Love’s skull. But Quagliana pointed out that Love’s skull was not fractured, nor any of her facial bones broken.
Police found Love in the early morning of May 3 face-down on her bed in her Charlottesville apartment. She was partially clothed and her right eye was blackened and swollen. Hours later, police arrested Huguely of Chevy Chase and charged him with first-degree murder in Love’s death.
During questioning, Huguely told police he fought with Love, his former girlfriend, on the night she died. He told police he shook Love while her head hit the wall and that he saw blood pouring from her nose before he shoved her onto her bed, stole her computer and left.
Chapman said the defense is attempting a “fishing expedition.” Judge Downer said he would independently review the medical records, which he has in his possession, to determine whether they are significant to the case.
