Prosecutors wrap up their case against Huguely; Thursday’s trial postponed due to illness

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Prosecutors in Charlottesville, Va., have wrapped up their presentation of evidence in their case against George Huguely, who is charged with the murder of UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love.

Huguely’s defense team has now begun presenting its case.

On Wednesday, prosecutors presented final witnesses to the jury. According to NBC29, prosecutors recalled a prior witness they had used. Detective Michael Flaherty returned to confirm to the court that the body that he placed in the body bag was in fact that of Yeardley Love.

The prosecution then called a handful of witnesses that they felt played small but crucial roles in the case. According to NBC29, James Sacco, the owner of Snooky’s Pawn Shop, testified to the level of value of Love’s laptop that Huguely had taken during the murder. Huguely claims to have taken the laptop; the prosecution has said he snatched it to delete vital information and emails that he sent to Love. On the stand, Sacco told the jury that “the laptop would have a fair market value of $250 – $350 back in May of 2010.”

According to NBC 29, prosecutors also called Katilyn Taylor to testify. Taylor, Love’s neighbor, testified that Huguely had been seen around Love’s apartment and that Huguely actually tapped and banged on Taylor’s apartment door and window the night before Love died.

The defense began its case late Wednesday afternoon with toxicologist Dr. Alphonse Poklis, who provided the blood alcohol level in Love at the time of her death, compared to what it was when she was examined by doctors. According to CBS 6, Poklis said, “Her blood alcohol content (BAC) was between 0.16 and 0.18 around midnight – during interaction with Huguely – and down to 0.14 at 2:30 a.m.” Poklis stated that Love was “clinically intoxicated” which leads to “severe impairment” in terms of an individual’s judgment, emotions and reasoning.

The defense hopes Poklis’s testimony will support its case that Love did indeed have alcohol in her system and that it impaired her judgment when Huguely confronted her. More importantly, the defense has also stated that the amount of alcohol found in her system would have been enough for her to have an “impaired heartbeat.”

The defense wrapped up Wednesday by calling another expert medical examiner to the stand. According to the Washington Post, the defense called a medical expert from Chicago, neuropathologist Dr. Jan E. Leestma. Dr. Leestma testified of his extensive background and his findings based on the examination and review of slides from other medical examiners who examined Love’s brain.

According to NBC 29, Leestma stated that he found extensive bleeding under Love’s scalp. He also discovered swelling in Love’s brain, but said he’s “not impressed with anything else” and that there was no obvious wound.

Further, Leestma told the court there were small hemorrhages near a ventricle of Love’s brain and in the left temporal lobe, but added “otherwise everything is as it is supposed to be.” Leestma then pointed out that the corpus callosum – a band of nerves connecting the left and right hemispheres of a brain – in Love’s brain is still intact. He stated that it is often lacerated in cases of severe head trauma.

Thursday morning began with a long delay in the trial, where according to NBC 12, one of Huguely’s defense attorneys was said to be ill. At 9:30 a.m., Judge Edward Hogshire delayed the start of day number nine in the trial until 12:30 p.m.

Later, Hogshire came back and addressed the court and informed them that the trial would be postponed for the day due to the illness of defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana. According to NBC 29, Fran Lawrence, who is another defense attorney for Huguely, said he was “hopeful” for everything to resume Friday morning.

The trial is expected to resume Friday morning but in the event of illness could be postponed again by Judge Hogshire. If the trial does in fact resume Friday, than it will be a very long day for jurors, and attorneys as they look to hopefully make up ground in the lost time in the trial.

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