Former US Lacrosse Player Gets 26 Years for Murdering Girlfriend

Former US Lacrosse Player Gets 26 Years for Murdering Girlfriend

Former University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely was sentenced 25 years, plus a year for larceny in prison, on Wednesday in lieu of the May 2010 second-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, in a drunken, jealous rage.

The jury, which is composed of seven men and five women, deliberated for about nine hours before giving their verdict. Huguely, 24, stood erect, bowed his head, and appeared stoic during the giving of the sentence by Circuit Judge Edward Hogshire.  While the sentence is read, sobs could be heard from the courtroom.

The jurors listened to the testimonies of almost 60 witnesses for days in order to know what really happened to Love.

Prosecutors indicted Huguely as killing Yeardley Love, the Virginia women's lacrosse player, after a day of golf and binge drinking, believing that she had had a relationship with a North Carolina lacrosse player.

The lady lax player’s right eye was sucked in and she was strongly hit that her brain was bruised. She also had a head injury that caused bleeding.

Besides her facial injuries, she also had injuries around her jaw and inside her mouth and neck and obtained some marks on her chest which suggested she was grabbed. It was concluded that she died of blunt force trauma.

Prosecutor Dave Chapman, who likened the night Love was killed as a scene from a horror show, said Huguely kicked a hole in Love's door to get in her bedroom and literally beat her to death.

Huguely's attorneys defended that the former lax player only went to Love's apartment to talk before the encounter quickly turned physical. He said she banged her head against the wall of her bedroom, and that she only had a bloody nose when he left.

Love's mother, Sharon, tearfully testified during the sentencing phase and described the death of her daughter an unbearable one as Huguely cast his gaze down at the defense table.

In a statement, the Love family said the passing of time has not eased the pain of their loss.

The family of Yeardley said in a statement they are not and would not be able to bear the pain of the loss their daughter.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Friday February 24 2012, 3:56 AM EDT. Ref: CNN. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0