A judge partially unsealed court documents in the ongoing University of Virginia murder investigation.
Yeardley Love, 22, was found dead in her home last month. Her ex-boyfriend and former UVA lacrosse player George Hughley is the sole suspect in the case. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
On Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins decided to reveal why search warrants and other files in the murder investigation were being kept secret.
In the end, it comes down to keeping an impartial jury, and preventing potential jurors from hearing too many details before they are revealed in trial.
"We've heard absolutely no evidence that impaneling an impartial jury will be impossible in this case," said Roman Lifson, an attorney for several media organizations that sought to unseal the documents. He added that several other high profile cases were tried before unbiased juries.
Part of the information will be redacted, per the request of Dave Chapman, the Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney. He argued that certain details, like names of places searched, should be removed.
The media organizations that argued for the unsealing of these documents will likely also argue for search warrants to also be made public. The judge set a July 1 hearing on that issue.
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Meanwhile, George Hughley, who was expected to be in court Thursday, will have his first hearing Oct. 7.
