RICHMOND, Va. — A decade ago, University of Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely V was convicted of second-degree murder after a sensational criminal trial in the killing of his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Yeardley Love, a member of the UVA women’s lacrosse team.
With Huguely now about halfway through his 23-year prison sentence, Love’s mother is seeking to hold him responsible in civil court. Sharon Love’s lawsuit, which seeks $29.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages, is set to go to trial Monday in Charlottesville Circuit Court, almost 12 years after her daughter was found dead in her off-campus apartment.
At the University of Virginia, an elite state school consistently ranked as one of the best in the country, Love and Huguely, both seniors who were weeks away from graduating, were known for their play on UVA’s nationally ranked men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. But they were also known for their volatile relationship. During Huguely’s criminal trial, a witness testified that he saw Huguely put Love in a chokehold months before she was killed.
Prosecutors said Huguely kicked a hole in Love’s bedroom door, then beat her after a day of golf and binge drinking, enraged that she had had a relationship with a lacrosse player from North Carolina. Love’s right eye was bashed in and she had a head injury that caused bleeding at the base of her brain stem.
A medical examiner concluded Love, 22, died of blunt force trauma to her head, but defense and prosecution experts offered differing medical opinions on the lethal consequences of her injuries.
Huguely’s attorneys said he only went to Love’s apartment to talk to her, but their argument quickly became physical. Huguely told police she banged her head against the wall of her bedroom, and she only had a bloody nose when he left.
During a videotaped police interrogation shown to the jury, Huguely was told by a detective that Love was dead and “you killed her.” Huguely is then…
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