The trial of George Huguely, the ex-boyfriend of Yeardley Love, a UVA lacrosse player who was murdered last year, ended today as jurors charged George with second-degree murder. The two week trial centered on ten minutes in Yeardley’s apartment during the couple’s off-and-on relationship.
George did not testify during the trial. The only moment that jurors heard his voice was during a videotaped interview with George hours after Yeardley’s body was found. In the videotape, George told police that he had shaken Yeardley, grabbed her neck and pushed her on the floor after she refused to talk to him. He told them that she had hit her head against the wall, but didn’t seem seriously injured when he left.
Yeardley’s family, however, did choose to testify on the behalf of their dead sister and daughter. According to the Washington Post, Lexie Love, 28, said everything around her is a reminder of her lost sister: songs on the radio, photos of Yeardley’s friends, their childhood home near Baltimore, their family dog.
George was portrayed by prosecutors as a controlling abuser and by the defense as a stupid drunk and a boy athlete. Jurors weighed these two images for nine hours and eventually convicted the former UVA lacrosse player with second-degree murder. He could face more than 40 years in prison.