As the number of criminal charges against former UVA student George Huguely increased last week, so did the tension surrounding a Monday pre-trial hearing in Charlottesville General District Court. This morning, however, Judge Robert Downer dispelled the suspense for a time.
Downer agreed to continue Huguely’s January 21 court appearance pending a later date to be decided upon by prosecutor Dave Chapman and defense attorneys Francis McQ. Lawrence and Rhonda Quagliana. In May, Huguely was charged with first-degree murder following the death of his ex-girlfriend, Yeardley Love, and told police he shook her while she bled. Huguely waived his right to attend this morning’s hearing, which lasted a matter of minutes.
Lawrence told Downer that defense needs to review approximately 20 items of more than 100 pertaining to the Huguely case. Neither Lawrence nor Chapman elaborated on what those items were during the hearing. Chapman told Downer that a continuance was practical, given a "sufficient number of things under review [and] not reported on."
In December, a forensic pathologist questioned whether amphetamines may have left Love susceptible to a cardiac arrhythmia, and testified that he was not satisfied with "blunt force trauma" was Yeardley Love’s reported cause of death. For previous coverage, click here.
