<p>I’m not really surprised that things are turning up about Huguely’s run in’s with alcohol and with aggression and anger. I mean it is not like all of a sudden, a young man just beats a girl to death. This type of behavior starts out more minor and can build. What is a bit surprising to me is that he was able to remain on the team given a history of arrests. It hasn’t yet been revealed if there were incidents of harassment or abuse with Ms. Love. But I would not be surprised if there were, as again, the final incident is one of escalation but likely not a first time he has behaved in such a way. Unfortunately, with domestic abuse and violence, so much never gets reported. And the young woman may not have confided in others, hard to say just yet.</p>
<p>Sabaray- thank you. That is so tragic. I’m a little worried about sending my child far away to college anyway, stories like this make me feel so sad for the parents.</p>
<p>Guess what? All Virginia convictions can be accessed on google! The UVa pres had the gall to blame the town of Lexington for not informing it of Huguely’s conviction. Lexington then pointed out that it lists all convictions on the public access site and if UVa had any interest in checking the records of its sports teams, it could do so easily. Source? Sports Illlustrated, which has a good article about this mess:</p>
<p>[Why</a> did no one see the*red flags on George Huguely? - Andy Staples - SI.com](<a href=“http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/05/06/virginia.lacrosse.vigil1/]Why”>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/05/06/virginia.lacrosse.vigil1/)</p>
<p>There is an interesting discussion by Steven Silverman about the initial strategy of the Huguely defense team. The discussion is a blog so I won’t paste the link. Just google “Legal Analysis George Huguely”</p>
<p>Silverman applauds the defense team for postponing the bail hearing in order to delay the revelation of additional facts before the team has a chance to “spin” them. But he disagrees with the defense lawyer calling Huguely’s action an accident.</p>
<p>“For the defense attorney to characterize this murder as an “accident” at this early stage only serves to enrage the public and the victim’s family as well as bait the prosecution to seek the death penalty. Also by tipping an early hand, the defense attorney has provided the police with the investigative road map they should take to focus on disproving this poorly thought out defense. The defense also hurt it’s chances of convincing anyone of a sincere insanity plea down the road by taking this approach.”</p>
<p>Also Silverman thinks the case for a felony murder conviction is strong. Ms. Love’s death occurred while Huguely was committing a felony (burglary).</p>
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You’re not the only one who feels this way. Check out this editorial in the Washington Examiner (the editorial does state that the women playing would honor Yeardley Love). </p>
<p>[U.Va</a>. needs to get its values straight | Washington Examiner](<a href=“http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/UVa-needs-to-get-its-values-straight-92872814.html]U.Va”>http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/UVa-needs-to-get-its-values-straight-92872814.html)</p>
<p>“So who, exactly, is the men’s lacrosse team honoring as it tries to win another NCAA title? A murdered girl? A teammate who stands accused of killing her? Or one of the nation’s most storied lacrosse programs? In this case, the pursuit of athletic glory has clouded the judgment of Littlepage. It’s time for the university’s president, John T. Casteen III, to tell his athletic officials and the men’s lacrosse team that now is not a time for playing but rather for grieving, soul-searching and getting their values in order. The highest goals of a great university, after all, are expanding intellectual horizons and shaping character. Casteen had it right in a statement after the news broke: ‘We mourn her death and feel anger on reading that the investigators believe that another student caused it.’ This is not the time for his teammates to be tossing around a little white ball.”</p>
<p>Note that back in 2006 Duke shut its lacrosse season down after that incident. (And no one was killed.)</p>
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<p>I think Mr. Huguely’s attorney will be calling in every favor he has coming, pullling every string he can think of, using every contact he has developed over the years, to try to get some kind of a plea bargain.</p>
<p>CTTC…I do not agree with you. It is also not like the Duke case where many on the team were involved at the party. This incident involved ONE team member. I think you can grieve a loss without giving up your work, your school, or your activities. I believe that Ms. Love’s family gave a thumbs up to the teams going on to play in this tournament. I don’t think the athletes should lose out on their pursuits due to the behavior of ONE man, that had nothing to do with the team. I am sure they are grieving and that activities are taking place to mourn. I don’t think that means all other activities must cease. I mean why take exams?</p>
<p>glad to hear that Lexington lists the convictions and they were available for UVA to access – I do agree though that there should have been more made of the fact that he was combative and threatened to kill the arresting police officer.</p>
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Well, that “one quarter of one percent” killed 100% of another human being…</p>
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Is it the responsibility for every college to check every student for any legal issues?
Should colleges be running criminal background checks on each and every student? How often? Upon matriculation or once each semester?</p>
<p>It is easy to say this information was available for the taking but hindsight is 20/20 and just what would be the mechanism for this?</p>
<p>My senior in high school daughter decided to call it quits with her boyfriend du jour. She wanted to bow out in plenty of time for him to find another date to prom. My petite non-athletic daughter only dated the boy (rugby player - athletic, over six feet) about two months. I suggested that she meet him at school in a non-secluded area - not knowing how the young man would react to less-than-positive news. He reacted like a perfect gentleman - saying that, while disappointed, he sensed it coming. I felt guilty after the fact for suggesting that she take precautions that turned out so unnecessary. Now I look back and think that I might have inadvertently taught something that needed teaching. I like to think that most young men deal with rejection okay. I have a son, so have seen disappointment from that angle also, though my son (like most young men - or so I continue to hope) dealt with his disappointment in a healthy manner. Cases like this one serve as a good reminder that bad things can happen.</p>
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<p>The prisons are full of people like that. Lots of people who commited crimes while on drugs don’t even remember what they did and, after getting off drugs, don’t even recognize the person who committed the crime. Lots of mothers love lots of sons who are in prison.</p>
<p>I always thought that the younger of the DC snipers was a rather sympathetic character…had no male influence in his life, so he fell under the influence of a really bad guy and then did really bad stuff. Most criminals are not 100% evil. But they still have to face the consequences of their crimes.</p>
<p>“Casteen lamented that no law exists requiring municipalities to alert universities when a student is arrested. He also criticized Lexington officials, wondering aloud why they hadn’t made a bigger deal out of the case if Huguely had indeed threatened to kill an officer.”</p>
<p>And now he knows that all convictions are a matter of public record, so UVA could have tracked its problem children.</p>
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<p>I don’t think that you should feel at all guilty. Most guys deal with it but you might get one that is in that percentage that does have a problem. My daughter has had to deal with a stalker type. I told her that he sounded like he could be a problem but she had to go through it to come to believe what I said about him. I think that it may be easier for guys to see that in other guys.</p>
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I didn’t say what my opinion was. Just presenting different viewpoints.</p>
<p>Here is an interesting article…
It speaks to the issue I have been discussing about the possibility of who knew of anything on Yeardley’s end of things in the relationship…if she shared concerns about his behavior…and perhaps peer pressure to not do anything…and also who knew about things on Huguely’s end of things…such as prior arrests or his behaviors with Love or anything else and tried to protect him. </p>
<p>[Keeping</a> Score: University of Virginia tragedy could have been prevented - Christine Brennan: Sports issues, controversies and commentary - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://content.usatoday.com/communities/christinebrennan/post/2010/05/keeping-score-university-of-virginia-tragedy-could-have-been-prevented/1]Keeping”>http://content.usatoday.com/communities/christinebrennan/post/2010/05/keeping-score-university-of-virginia-tragedy-could-have-been-prevented/1)</p>
<p>Checking criminal convictions in Virginia is not as simple as running a google search as has been represented. There is not one central website where one can go and search for criminal convictions in all jurisdictions available to the general public free of charge. I believe the database referenced in the SI article is available under conditions prescribed by statute through the Virginia State Police. And they are the ones performing the search.</p>
<p>^^^^I’m thinking of my alma mater, the University of Texas. Do parents have a reasonable expectation that the university will do background checks on 48,000 students? Once a semester? Once a week? Only student athletes? If so, why? A band girl gets beaten up by her boyfriend and the University is off the hook for that case but not one involving an athlete?</p>
<p>I don’t know, I’m not sure it’s practical to make it a University’s responsibility to track potential criminal activity by its students.</p>
<p>Can anyone familiar with UVa’s Honor Code address its implications here? I thought it was fairly comprehensive, and would have imposed a duty on anyone who knew of Huguely’s actions to report him.</p>
<p>The criminal background check idea, by the way, is nutso. They are expensive, take forever to complete, and are often inaccurate. Doing it for everybody once or twice a year would require enormous resources and still not yield timely information.</p>
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<p>Boy does this kind of thinking make me mad! Of course young women ought to be careful, but let’s be clear here. Young men are the ones who need to take measures to avoid abuse-- by not beating up young women, and by not drinking if they are unable to control their violence when they drink.</p>