Charlottesville, Va. -- Journalists have poured into Charlottesville, Va., for today's opening of the trial of a University of Virginia lacrosse player charged with killing a star player on the women's lacrosse squad.
The Daily Progress in Charlottesville says streets have been closed around the courthouse and that more than 175 members of the media are on hand for the trial.
George Huguely, now 24, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing ex-girlfriend Yeardley Love in May 2010.
USA TODAY's Erik Brady reports that Huguely, according to search-warrant affidavits, told police in the hours after Love's death that he shook her in her bedroom and that her head repeatedly hit the wall.
She was found in a pool of blood, her right eye swollen shut and her face bruised. Defense attorney Lawrence Francis called the case "an accident with a tragic outcome."
The Daily Progress says the defense team is expected to argue that Love died of complications from prescription drugs rather than trauma to her head.