The trial in Charlottesville to determine the guilt or innocence of George W. Huguely in the death of Yeardley Love is about first-degree murder.
Lacrosse at the University of Virginia is not on trial. Lacrosse in general is not on trial. College athletes and athletics are not on trial. And most certainly, Yeardley Love is not on trial.
This trial is about what took place in an apartment on 14th Street Northwest in Charlottesville early on the morning of May 3, 2010, between two college students who happened to be lacrosse athletes.
Huguely and Love had dated, but the relationship ended. Indications are it did not end well. Huguely has admitted to kicking in the door to Love's bedroom.
He has admitted to shaking her violently enough to bang her head against the wall.
Monday, he entered a plea of not guilty to first-degree murder, felony murder, robbery of a residence, burglary, entering a house with intent to commit a felony and grand larceny.
The state medical examiner determined the cause of Love's death as blunt-force trauma. A witness for the defense, Dr. Jack Daniel, said he believes Love died from cardiac arrhythmia, which caused insufficient blood flow to her head.
Daniel did not say if he thought having her head banged against the wall was a mitigating factor in that insufficient blood flow to Love's brain.
Love's family has suffered greatly and will suffer more if Huguely's attorneys present a spirited defense, to which Huguely is entitled, that implies Love has some culpability.
This is a tragedy. Two young lives have been forever changed.
Love, with a future full of hope and promise, died at the age of 22.
If Huguely, 24, is found guilty, he will spend much of the rest of his life in prison, especially since Virginia is a no-parole state.
It's easy to point a finger at lacrosse, a sport seemingly played only by the privileged.
But there are thousands of lacrosse players in the country. At the moment, this seems to be the only trial in which a lacrosse player is accused of first-degree murder.
It is easy to say athletes enjoy special privileges. It is easy to say the very talented too often have their bad behavior overlooked because of their ability to handle a lacrosse stick, baseball bat, football or basketball.
Those issues are not on trial either.
Just what members of the Virginia lacrosse team should have known or done is open for question, but are not part of these proceedings.
If Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia had known Huguely was arrested for being drunk in public and resisting arrest — he was shot with a Taser — in Lexington in November 2008, perhaps Starsia would have taken action.
But would that have changed Huguely's feelings toward or relationship with Love and what happened almost two years later?
If Huguely's teammates were aware of his temper and misbehavior in Lexington, someone was obligated to say something to him and perhaps even to Starsia.
Athletes constantly refer to their teams as "families." Family members sometimes must perform difficult duties for the sake of the individual and good of the team.
Whether that would have changed what happened early on the morning of May 3 is forever unknown.
None of that matters and none of that figures into this trial.
Huguely — not his coaches, teammates or lacrosse players in general — is responsible for his actions.
The jury will determine whether those actions were responsible for the death of Yeardley Love.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement