WMAR-TV/Baltimore video: Reporter Sherrie Johnson reports on the case and its lasting effect on the UVA campus. February 3, 2012.
Yeardley Love in our thoughts: UVA & Charlottesville, the extended UVA family & the U.S. lacrosse community are bracing themselves for the graphic details and 15 photos that both sides agree will come quickly in George Huguely V's first-degree murder trial that starts Monday, with jury selection and voir dire, in what is expected to be a two-week trial.
Huguely's defense team have already made clear that they are uneasy with some of Judge Edward Hogshire's announced plans for group voir dire to get down to the final members of the jury, whose actual size with alternates is expected to be twelve plus three.
As most of you who come to this blog regularly know -but so those of you who don't will know- there are more than just a few things that color my own thoughts on both the sport and this story in particular, so here's what you need to know.
I lived and worked in the Washington, D.C. area for 15 years and knew lots of people who were very proud UVA alums, including some past housemates.
The
Charlottesvile area is one of my favorite places in all of the country, a place that's
(almost) as nice as the beautiful, friendly and diverse sensibility and high Quality of Life that I came to know and appreciate in Bloomington while I was at
Indiana University,
IU.
While I lived up in Arlington County, less than two-and-a-half hours northeast of Charlottesville, especially those last few years there, I used to frequently go down there with friends on weekend drives to see what was doing, often swinging by one of the many historical places there, as well as some of the more popular restaurants and haunts near campus.
(I never made it down for the well-known Virginia Film Festival, though I always wanted to.)
Especially on Fall weekends when the Hurricanes or Dolphins weren't going to be playing in a game that would be televised in the D.C. area, or playing an important game that, well, I just had to catch at a sports bar with a reliable satellite dish and the NFL Ticket, those drives down Route 29 and Skyline Drive were really enjoyable and fun, not to mention, relaxing.
For me, the Blue Ridge Mountains were always a real tonic for Washington's frantic and often exasperating hustle.
I'm a big lacrosse fan and watch or record nearly ever D1 Mens or Womens match that's televised on either
ESPNU,
TheBigTenNetwork or
CBS College Sports, which means I've seen almost every televised match that
Kelly Amonte-Hiller's Northwestern's Women's
team have played on
The BigTenNetwork the past three years when they won the NCAA title twice.
I also have a friend who used to play lacrosse for
Duke and who told me what things were like in those years before the media witch-hunt of a few years ago, that badly tarnished the reputations of people who hadn't done anything, but who were convicted by the news media, anyway.
Not surprisingly, given all that, I've necessarily watched a ton of
UVA matches on TV both before and since I returned to South Florida from Washington eight years ago, both the Mens and Womens' teams.
That includes not only the ACC tourney matches, but all the NCAA tourney games that were aired, as well as some streamed live at
NCAA.org
I say that because over time, I've obviously become familiar with the names of both the standout players as well as the '
spark plugs' on those teams that kept them energized and operating at a high level, and I've rooted for them for years.
I was happy for coach
Dom Starsia that his
UVA squad finally won the NCAA title again last year, given everything that has happened.
I've also written several posts about college lacrosse here on this blog, including some about Yeardley Love's tragic murder just days after UVA played Northwestern up in Evanston -where I also used to live- a match that I watched on The BigTenNetwork, but which they chose not to repeat as originally scheduled in the days after she was murdered.
If lacrosse had existed as a varsity high school sport in Dade County when I was a student at North Miami Beach Senior High in the mid-to-late '70's, I'd have definitely played, but it wasn't, and IU didn't field a varsity team, either.
Once I was living in the Washington area, I saw some of the NCAA title matches in College Park, where the University of Maryland is located, a school I'd applied to like two other NMB students who later went to IU the same year I did.
I also have a very smart, athletic and talented niece from suburban Maryland, who went to a high school that's one of the top Lacrosse schools in the country, having recently won the Boys and Girls state championships.
And now she's a sophomore at UVA, and she just loves it there.
As much as I and my sister -her mother- loved IU and Bloomington in the 1980's, which is really saying something.
So those are some of my biases and also some of the reasons that I have been following this story very closely. I knew the sport and had heard of the principals before the tragedy.
WTVR-TV 6/Richmond video: Tracy Sears explains the back-story
Previous Channel 6 stories and information on the tragedy that stunned two communities
As many of you may well recall from what I've written here previously about this tragic and heart-breaking story, or what you might've gleaned from the national news coverage of this 21-month old story, the shock was particularly devastating in the Baltimore area, which is why I lead this post with a local TV segment from there.
Devastating not only because the greater Baltimore area is home to the largest concentration of high school and college lacrosse players and fans anywhere in the country, the home of the
U.S. Lacrosse, home of the annual NCAA D1 college tourney at
M&T Stadium -
home of the Ravens- that draws huge and enthusiastic crowds, and even larger ones when it hosts the NCAA D1 Final Four, but more importantly, because it's where most of the people who loved and adored
Yeardley Love lived.
Love grew-up in suburban Cockeysville, north of town, and attended Notre Dame Prep -aka NDP- in nearby Towson, a city that has recently hosted the NCAA DI Womens Final Four a number of times at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
NDP has been raising funds for their new artificial turf field that will be named Yeardley Love Memorial Field in her honor, and the good news is that many individuals in the greater Baltimore business community and the larger lacrosse community have stepped-up big time to make that a reality.
It's their lasting tribute to someone who not only passionately loved the sport, but who
loved being a member of the
UVA lacrosse team,
a team she'd ALWAYS wanted to play for.
Here's two more stories from Baltimore on a fundraising effort of a different sort honoring the NDP alumna:
The Baltimore Sun
Murder trial of UVA lacrosse player set to begin
George Huguely V accused of beating former girlfriend Yeardley Love to death
Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun,
4:57 p.m. EST, February 5, 2012
Nearly two years after Cockeysville native Yeardley Love was found dead, bruised and lying in a pool of blood in an off-campus apartment near the University of Virginia, her former boyfriend and fellow lacrosse player is scheduled to stand trial for her murder.
Read the rest of the post at:
The Washington Post
George Huguely’s trial in Yeardley Love’s death starts Monday with jury selection
By Mary Pat Flaherty and Jenna Johnson
Published: February 5
Culpeper Star Exponent
Huguely jury selection process further discussed
By Samantha Koon - Media General News Service
Published: January 30, 2012
WSET-TV, ABC-13 Lynchburg/Danville/Roanoke VA video: Jury Selection Begins Monday for Huguely Case
Reporter: Sally Delta, Posted: Feb 05, 2012 6:10 PM EST
WBAL-TV/Baltimore video: UVA Prepares Campus Community For Huguely Trial
The Daily Progress
With George Huguely, Charlottesville awaits its biggest trial in years
By: SAMANTHA KOON | The Daily Progress
Published: February 04, 2012
...As a result, students must now report any changes in their criminal history each fall. Moreover, students must inform the university of any new arrests or convictions within 72 hours, or else face possible honor charges. Student-athletes must report arrests or convictions within 48 hours, Groves said...
The Washington Post
As ex-lacrosse player’s trial begins, spotlight on U.Va., changes made since student’s slaying
By Associated Press, Published: February 4
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In the nearly two years since a University of Virginia lacrosse player was charged with killing his ex-girlfriend, it’s become easier for possible abuse victims to get a restraining order and students must tell the school if they’ve ever been arrested
Read the rest of the article at:
The Washington Post
George Huguely’s murder trial begins; 2010 killing rocked U-Va. community
Photo gallery:
The Cavaliar Daily
The trial begins
Huguely trial commences today with jury selection; community reflects
BY MIKE LANG, FOCUS EDITOR on February 6, 2012
