Lacrosse ugliness at U.Va.

Wow. This is gonna be interesting. A 911 call for aalcohol abuse turns into a murder charge? Either dude was clumbsily attempting a poorly conceived cover-up, or the prosecutor's reaching. Don't see much grey area in this one.

 

Curious how they arrived at a first-degree murder charge. From what I'm reading, it sounds like an accident or at worst manslaughter. I'm guessing there's more to this than what's in that report.

 

Va has the death penalty.

 

Damn.

To charge that quickly...

 

Police statement mentions "visible physical trauma".

http://www.virginia.edu/emergency/message050310.html

 

The president of the university has issued a VERY strong statement. Wow.

Although we know nothing other than what appears in the Charlottesville Police Department's more recent statement, this death moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise, and we express the University's and our own sympathy for Yeardley's family, team-mates, and friends. That she appears now to have been murdered by another student compounds this sense of loss by suggesting that Yeardley died without comfort or consolation from those closest to her. We mourn her death and feel anger on reading that the investigators believe that another student caused it. Like students who have contacted us in the last few minutes, we know no explanation of what appears now to have happened.

 

Here's a sickening twist - the accused, George Huguely, and his father were once quoted in the Washington Post about the Duke case.

"I sympathize for the team," Huguely said. "They've been scrutinized so hard and no one knows what has happened yet. In this country, you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I think that's the way it should be."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/31/AR2006033101879.html

Huguely's father, George, Sr. said yesterday that he's had discussions with his son, who will play at University of Virginia next season, about staying out of situations that could be costly.

"Regardless of what winds up happening, you have to learn from this experience and take what you can from it," George Huguely Sr. said. "You always have to remember and can't let yourself be in a situation where something like this could happen."

Um, yeah. I'm thinking those talks didn't sink in as well as you would have liked, George Sr.

 

Another black eye for LAX - guilt by association.

 

Word on Twitter is UVA has cancelled both teams' remaining games.

Also, I didn't realize the men's team is No. 1 in the nation.

 

I hope not. It's a great sport.