Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the trial of former University lacrosse player George Huguely. Huguely is accused of murdering fellow University lacrosse player Yeardley Love.
In May 2010, Love was discovered lying unresponsive in a pool of blood by two friends. There were signs of forced entry into her bedroom, and she had suffered a bruise to her face likely caused by blunt force trauma.
The scene the police found prompted an investigation, which led officials to Huguely, Love's ex-boyfriend. Huguely and Love argued the night of Love's death, and Huguely disposed of Love's personal laptop as he left angrily, according to a court affidavit.
Love's death set off a chain of events which would be felt throughout the entire University. Police called University Dean of Students Allen Groves at about 2:15 a.m., informing him of Love's death. Groves met Patricia Lampkin, vice president and chief student affairs officer, just 45 minutes later at the Rotunda. By 9 a.m. the same day, both the men's and women's lacrosse teams knew about Love's death.
A murder trial in Charlottesville
The court ultimately charged Huguely with first-degree murder, and he has been in Charlottesville jail awaiting today's start to his trial.
Twenty one months after Love's death, Huguely's trial will likely focus on whether he was in the mental state necessary to merit the first-degree murder conviction the prosecution seeks.
"Our system puts a premium on identifying and proving ... this culpable mental state," Law Prof. Anne Coughlin said.
If the jury fails to determine Huguely acted with "malice or forethought," Coughlin said he could receive a lesser sentence of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
As the Charlottesville community deliberates on its own verdict, faculty, students and Charlottesville residents look to each other for support in dealing with the issues surrounding this case, which range from domestic violence to how individuals cope with personal tragedy.
Linda Bullock, an intimate partner violence researcher in the Nursing School, said a supportive community is the best way to prevent domestic violence tragedies.
"We know that many women don't recognize that they're in a violent relationship because many women want the violence to stop but not the relationship," Bullock said.
Bullock added that the commitment to preventing domestic violence must span both genders.
"Another thing we need to start doing is educating our young men," Bullock said. "We need to start educating our men to be loving individuals."
Policy changes
Administrators have exhibited a commitment to maintaining a higher standard in the University community since Love's death. Shortly after Love's death, University officials learned Huguely had previously been arrested in Lexington, Va. for resisting arrest and being drunk in public. That information led administrators to reexamine a University policy requiring students to disclose prior arrests.
"The [reporting convictions] policy had been in place since 2004," Groves said. The policy was instated after former University student Andrew Alston was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for stabbing volunteer firefighter Walter Sisk to death on the Corner Nov. 8, 2003.
Before Love's death, the policy had asked students to report convictions to the Office of the Dean of Students. After Love's death, however, Groves and other administrators implemented a more rigorous enforcement of the policy via the University's online Student Information System.
Using the new system, 650 disclosures occurred in Fall 2010 and 350 in Fall 2011, which far outstripped previous reporting statistics, Groves said.
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