Bombshells away: Huguely prosecution readies blood evidence
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The dumpster where Love's computer was found, with Huguely's residence in the background.hawes spencer
Monday morning in the trial of accused murderer George Huguely may have launched a few yawns in the courtroom, as literally dozens of photographs and other bits of evidence were shown to the jury. However, pieces of shower curtain, parts of a sink or two, and myriad photographs of red stains in Huguely's apartment appear poised to provide some afternoon bombshells for the prosecution.
Meanwhile, lawyers for a Washington news outlet lost their quest to gain better access to the screen that's showing all this evidence. Prosecutor Dave Chapman argued in the hearing earlier February 13 that only the jury– not the media– have the right to see the evidence during the trial. CBS-affiliated reporter Bruce Leshan of WUSA led the charge to re-orient the large monitor on which the jury has seen such evidence as photographs of first-responders attempting to revive Yeardley Love as well as Friday's dramatic video interrogation of her alleged killer. However, Judge Edward Hogshire sided with Chapman.
The jury on Monday morning has been hearing from Charlottesville Police forensics collection officers such as Steve Dillion, Jeremy Carper, and Eric Pendleton.
Before testimony wrapped around 1:15pm, Carper told the jurors how he noticed red palms as well as a variety of cuts, bruises, and abrasions on the hands, knuckles, and arms of Huguely, whose body he photographed after getting a warrant to do so.
Other pieces of evidence bandied about this day in paper bags included a white "Just the Boys" t-shirt, a pair of gray cargo shorts. At one point, Carper wears rubber gloves the color of Blue Man Group faces to wield a container with microscopic scrapings he removed from underneath Huguely's fingernails.
Another interesting moment in Carper's testimony came when prosecutor Dave Chapman asked the burly Carper, at 6 feet and 200 pounds, to stand before the jury and compare his own weight and stature to the arrest-era Huguely. Media photographs show that after nearly two years in jail, Huguely is a mere shadow of his former self. Carper estimated the arrest-era Huguely to have been "a little bit heavier."
–story updated at 1:37pm
43 comments
Maybe Huguely's attorneys can find a pair of gloves for their client to try on if their attempts to show Love beat herself up and her obvious medical condition prevents her from withstanding repeated blows to the head, fail to convince the jury.
If the Lacrosse gloves fit ,they can't acquit !
The UVa Lacrosse uniform doesn't provide full coverage, except with the gloves. What's the public record on how much, if any, of that Saturday's game GHV played in?
Standard Lacrosse gear for boys/men include padded gloves,padded wrist protectors,padded forearm protectors, elbow pads, and shoulder pads that extend down the upper arm .
Lacrosse players get the sh!t beaten out of them day in and day out in practice and games. This was at the end of a long season. He would have had bruises and cuts all over his body.
Good luck determining which were from that night and which were from practices and games in the days leading up to it.
For that matter I would think she would have a fair amount of bruising from lacrosse as well.
vaughn- they evidently get the crap beat out of them at 2 in the morning too.........
Vaughn makes an excellent point. Love and Huguely were both Division I lax players, it's not a game like volleyball but a very rough contact sport.
The tweets coming out about today's testimony are very damaging to GH's defense. Some brutal stuff.
Skip---No doubt. I'm not offering any kind of opinion other than the fact that both would have routinely had bruising beyond what we would typically consider normal, so this aspect of the case is a bit different than it would be if it involved two non-athletes. Obviously lacrosse didnt account for all her facial cuts and bruises and blood all over the room.
Why do I suddenly have the old Dead Kennedy's song "Jock-O-Rama" stuck in my head?
They can tell pretty easily about when a bruise occurs. They will just be dealing with ones that occurred that evening.
Hawes' time line says the guys were in a game the day before, I wonder when the last time Love was in a game and how often did she play when there was one? (as far as some bruises coming from sports)
Does George even remember what really happened? If he consumed that much alcohol he probably blacked out.
I don't know how to read these things, but here is the box score for Yeardley Love's April 30 game against Northwestern. http://www.virginiasports.com/fls/17800/stats/wlacrosse/2010/uva_nw.htm It indicates that Love was a "substitute" but doesn't definitively indicate whether she played, does it?
Conversely, the box score for George Huguely's last game, May 1 against Robert Morris, clearly seems to show some actual playing, doesn't it?
http://www.virginiasports.com/fls/17800/stats/mlacrosse/2010/va050110.htm
--hawes spencer
Hawes, if Yeardley was subbing, that means that more than likely she was sitting that game out.
Well that point about awarness is questionable . He appears to have lied to his roomate about where he came from to hide the fact he just left YL's residence . He lied about the comp. and throwing it in the dumpster seems to be an attempt to conceal culpability. Agreeing to the interview was probably in effort to slip out of any charges for the assault and gain information on what the police knew.His declaration that he got absolutely no cuts and bruises from the assault on YL is not credible .Getting her soft tissue under his nails and his soft tissue under her nails tells another story . Again cuts and scratches on hands and arms are not consistant with typical bruising one would have from playing lacrosse with padded protective gear .
Bruises and cuts can indicate some things. DNA under her fingernails, and his, tell us something else. That didn't happen on the lacrosse field.
Clearly GH panicked, hence the the stolen laptop and efforts to clean up. I wonder if he even remembers strangling her at the party earlier that year?
P.S. If he was so drunk then how is he so sure he got absolutely no cuts or bruises from the assault ? Seems to be a clear indication of his awarness of guilt and a clumsy attempt to worm out of it .
Frank Speaker, all of this is speculation. What are the FACTS? Until the facts are established, one cannot just assume that George is a cold-blooded killer and that Yeardley was an innocent angelic princess. Did she deserve to die, NO. But all this hating on the two involved is pointless.
Hawes,
I believe the game day stats you cite refer to Huguely making two "turn-overs" (hence T/O), hence some time on the field.
As a parent of a lacross player, not college but there are bruises and scrapes but the injury to his hands "may" indicate having contact while punching someone? My child never had injuries to their hands because that is their tool to hold the stick. I also believe one of his team mates commented on one of the articles that he was burried so deep he rarely saw time in any game.
Yeardly, however, appears to have had more game time but I would assume her room mate would have mentioned if she received a black eye from playing.
Of course the defense could use that - stating all those injuries occured while playing for UVA - delayed response to a brain hemmorage? (I'm being sarcastic here.) If you are in these type of sports, the every play injuries you sustain are just part of being that type of athlete. You have your bruises but they are so much different than if you were beaten by someone twice your size.
JeffersonChurchill--- Does your complaint about my speculation refer also to your speculation ?
Huguely was certainly still somewhat intoxicated during his interrogation. He had been drinking for 14+ hours the day before and only got 4 hours of sleep or so (assuming he slept between the assault and his interrogation). I wouldn't be suprised if he had a hazy recollection of what happened at Loves.
BTW, how did the police find teh laptop? How did they know about it being in the dumpster?
@Brian K - GH told them in the interrogation later that he put the laptop (what he also stated was 'collateral') in the dumpster and told them where it was...I think his haze only affected the fact that he should have asked for an attorney right off the bat and made no statement at all.
Oddly, kids in this area - at least when I went to school got an attorney to come in and told us if we were ever arrested for anything what to say and not to say and request an attorney/your parents. (Thanks Scott Goodwin.)
Women's lax is a completely different game than men's. Much, much less physical, and the rules are set up that way. Women don't even wear helmets. Not that I think this is all that relevant, just shedding a little light on the differences between the two sports.
GHVs size and tolerance to alcohol given his regular habit of consumption are a key factor here. Had he imbibed? Yes. Did that make him lose all access to his faculties? I think not.
Sometimes you can get a good blackout going based on drinking quickly, even if it's far less than your normal tolerance.
@Downtown Brown - women are usually more agressive in sports though. Either or you can tell the difference in a bruise from a fight and a bruise from a Lax ball or stick.
On the Stats listed for 4/30 and 5/1 games -- The fact that Ms. Love was listed as a substitute means she played in the game; according to the sheet, she did not "earn" any stats, good or bad. As to Mr. Huguely, it was senior day, so each of the seniors would have been subbed into the game if the score allowed. As someone above noted, he committed two turnovers. Both of these players suffered the fate of many elite high school athletes; they did not achieve the same level of on-field success at the college level they enjoyed in high school.
There have been a number of references on this board to rumors/allegations that Huguely punched out a car window earlier on the night of 5/2-morning of 5/3. If there is any substance to that rumor, that could provide another explanation for cuts/redness/etc. on his hands and arms.
Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but the idea that Hugely was buried on the bench is erroneous. He was on the 2nd midfield line both his junior and senior years and as such played in every game. He was certainly not a star, but he was also not a scrub. Somewhere in between.
Kate George- there has yet to be an alcohol test admitted into evidence. Without that speculation exists, not doubt.......won't work in favor in the defenses favor.
Seems like if there's anything you can believe in, it's that this kid was a big fat lush.
We've already discussed his size at the time and the fact that he had his tolerance built up. So he could handle alot. And to consider he was drinking so early, even to say he had, say 20 drinks over a 12 hour period, is less than 2 per hour. Even if he was slurring at 7:30 (dinner) there was a 4 hour window to sober up.
Hawes, I sure wish you had stuck around to give us your take on the cross examination this afternoon. It's hard to tell from the tweets if it was damning or not! :-) Thanks for those updates on WINA.
Question- how did he get from dinner to wherever he ended up?
Did he drive himself?
Still waiting to see if a witness can conclusively state, with evidence of some sort, that Boy George was indeed drunk at around 2 am.
Not sure what we know about his tolerance. What we DO know, from anecdotal reports, is that he seemed to habitually drink to the point of intoxication, where he became an obnoxious, violent drunk, or to the point of blackout. I don't think we should just make up the idea that he was big and drank alot, so must have been able to handle his liquor. All signs point to the fact that he couldn't.
I wonder if he was still drunk the next morning when the cops picked him up.
We'll see if the defense will put on those kids who said he was drinking hard at a party that night and breaking bottles, and that he punched a car window on the way to Love's. (Could be another source for bruises on his hand.) Yes, it's possible that he was just faking being drunk by deliberately doing those things, like they do in those crime shows on the teevee. But it seems more than likely he was just plain old drunk.
Apologies -- didn't notice others had brought up the window punching/bruises and still-intoxicated-at-time-of-interrogation angles. I concur...!
Dear Mr. Frank Speaker, yes.
To the rest: What are the facts?
GH V said he his injuries were entirely from playing lacrosse . He denied they could be from the assault and didn't mention any broken window or bottles as a cause of injury . The broken window idea can be ruled out unless the defense wants to try to add another lie to his list .The more he is shown to be untruthful ,the more problems he will have getting the jury to believe anything from the defense . GH pretty well needs to plead his case to avoid M 2 here . If the defense is going to use the taped statement to provide his side of the story it will be problematic if he was shown to be untruthful . The prosecution can tear the statement to shreads leaving the defense no alternative but to put him on the stand .Easy to predict how that would work out . On first blush this looks like straight forward manslaughter but as evidence comes out a murder conviction gets more likely .
He will get murder one only if he takes the stand............
Second degree murder carries penalty of 5 to 40 years, whereas manslaughter carries a max of 10. Thus, he could get convicted of the more serious of the charges yet get a relatively light sentence since the jury most likely will not know of the sentencing guidelines. MS looks to fit much of the defense's claim that it was an unintended consequence of misconduct. We shall see whether the jury buys that line of thinking.
Robert Chambers defense