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Blog and Media Roundup - Thursday, April 14, 2011; News Roundup
Topic Started: Apr 14 2011, 03:32 AM (596 Views)
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/12780036/article-Man-Mangum-accused-of-stabbing-dies?instance=main_article

Man Mangum accused of stabbing dies
04.13.11 - 11:01 pm
EP7Y_15593211_Crystal_Gail_Mangum.jpg
By John McCann

jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601

DURHAM -- The man Crystal Mangum is accused of stabbing has died, Durham Police Department Chief Jose Lopez Sr. said Wednesday.

Mangum already was in jail under a $300,000 secured bond charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

"More than likely, we will be upgrading the charge to murder," Lopez said.

In 2006, Mangum, 32, falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her.

On April 3, officers were called to 3507 Century Oaks Drive. When they arrived, they found a 46-year-old man had been stabbed in the torso with a kitchen knife, according to police. He was taken to Duke University Hospital and treated for serious injuries.

The victim, who has not been identified, was said to have been Mangum's boyfriend.

In December, Mangum was in Durham County Superior Court for an arson trial. Jurors found her guilty of three counts of contributing to the abuse and neglect of minors, causing more than $200 in property damage to the car of the man who was Mangum's boyfriend and resisting a police officer. Those were misdemeanor charges. But jurors did not reach consensus on the major issue, the arson charge -- a felony -- so Superior Court Judge Abraham Jones declared a mistrial. Mangum was sentenced to time already served, 88 days. The Durham County District Attorney's Office decided not to pursue the case further.

Mangum threatened to stab the boyfriend in the arson case, police said.
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12779440/article-Student-who-made-up-gay-bashing-story-heads-home-for-counseling?instance=main_article

Student who made up gay-bashing story heads home for counseling
04.13.11 - 10:19 pm
By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645

CHAPEL HILL -- Quinn Matney, the UNC freshman who lied about being branded with a scorching metal object during a bogus gay-bashing assault, has returned to his home in Asheville where his parents are trying to get him into professional counseling.

David Matney III said he drove to Chapel Hill on Tuesday to pick up his son, who called to say he wanted to come home.

"We're trying to get him in to see someone," David Matney said.

While he didn't offer details about what caused his son to create the hoax, David Matney did reveal that his son was trying to cover up something that his friends at UNC had learned about him.

"Quinn made up the story on the spur of the moment to hide something else that occurred that should not have occurred," David Matney said.

He said his son's claim that the fictitious assailant used an anti-gay slur was regrettable because it propelled the matter into the national spotlight.

"He was trying to make sure his friends believed him so they wouldn't push him on the real issue," David Matney said.

On the ride to Asheville, David Matney said his son told him that he was under a lot of stress.

David Matney also said his son is saddened by the events that unfolded after he fabricated his story.

"Once the ball started rolling, he didn't know how to stop it," David Matney said.

Quinn Matney set the UNC campus abuzz this week when he went public about telling police the tale that he was assaulted the morning of April 4 near Craige Residence Hall after stopping on a nearby pedestrian bridge to chat with someone he knew.

And in a shocking twist Tuesday afternoon, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp issued a statement saying campus police determined that the assault never occurred.

Quinn Matney claimed a college-age man, accompanied by two others he described as "very drunk," approached him, called him the anti-gay slur, and assaulted him with a hot metal object.

Because news of the incident didn't surface until this week, some members of the campus gay and lesbian community were critical of UNC for not moving quickly to alert the campus.

Local blogs called for swift and severe action against the attacker and an "Open Forum on Hate Crimes and Safety On Campus" was put together hurriedly for tonight at UNC.

Thorp had issued a statement Monday sternly condemning what turned out to be a false report and said the assault would be turned over to the FBI to be investigated as a hate crime because of the gay slur Quinn Matney claimed the assailant uttered.
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http://dukefactchecker.blogspot.com/2011/04/ch-7-confirms-death-of-crystal-gail.html

4/13/2011
Durham Police Chief says Crystal Gail Mangum likely to face murder charges
The man who Crystal Gail Mangum is accused of stabbing died last night at Duke Hospital.

There have been several identities and names given for the man. He apparently was 46 year old Reginald Daye, who let Mangum and her three kids move into his apartment after a brief sex fling. The two allegedly argued over rent money.

Daye has been on life support at Duke Hospital since the April 3rd stabbing. His family arranged for the plug to be pulled.

Mangum is the nut case with a long, long rap sheet who falsely charged three Duke lacrosse players with raping her in 2006. The three were declared "innocent" by the North Carolina Attorney General, and prosecutor Michael Nifong, who had believed Mangum, was disgraced, disbarred and sent symbolically to jail for one day.

She escaped charges in that case -- filing false police reports for example -- because the attorney general considered her a nut job.

Since the stabbing she's been in a Durham jail cell on $300,000 bail. Last night Durham's police chief said he expected charges against Mangum to be upgraded to murder.
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/mangum-likely-faces-murder-charge-after-boyfriend-s-death

Mangum likely faces murder charge after boyfriend’s death
By Chronicle Staff [2]
April 14, 2011


Reginald Daye, the man Crystal Mangum allegedly stabbed April 3, has died.

Mangum, the Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury after the incident and has been in jail since her arrest.

Durham Police Department Chief Jose Lopez told The Herald Sun Wednesday that the charge against Mangum will likely be upgraded to murder.

When police responded April 3 they found that the 46-year-old man had been stabbed in the torso with a kitchen knife. Daye and Mangum had allegedly been arguing about rent money.

Mangum was previously arrested in February 2010 following an altercation with a different boyfriend, WRAL reported. Mangum was accused of assaulting the man in front of her children and setting his clothes on fire.

She was eventually convicted of injury to personal property, child abuse and resisting a public officer. The arson charge was dismissed because a jury could not reach a verdict.
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http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/potti-hires-online-reputation-manager

Potti hires online reputation manager
Firm seeks to remove unfavorable articles from top Google results

Chronicle Graphic by Courtney Douglas

By Taylor Doherty [3]
April 14, 2011

Firm seeks to remove unfavorable articles from top Google results

Go ahead and Google Anil Potti.

No longer do the majority of top search results for the former Duke cancer researcher detail allegations that he falsified his resume and produced faulty research that has been retracted from renowned medical journals and led to the termination of three clinical trials. Instead, more than a dozen websites and social media accounts created in the months following Dr. Potti’s November resignation contain solely positive information about his research and medical experience.

“During his time at Duke, he had a special interest in taking care of patients with lung cancer and contributed to the development of several programs in cancer,” reads a section of AnilPotti.com, which does not discuss the terminated trials that a top Duke official has since said should never have been conducted.

In recent months, Potti hired Online Reputation Manager, a company that helps clients push down unfavorable content in search engine results. The effort has crowded out coverage of the scandal and retraction notices on medical journals’ websites.

Still, for Potti, the results so far appear to be mixed. Searches for his name bring up articles about his missteps published by The New York Times and The Chronicle, though many of the newly created positive sites rank high as well.

Online databases show that between Jan. 14 and Jan. 17, at least five sites were registered that combine Potti’s name in different arrangements: AnilPotti.com, AnilPotti.net, DrAnilPotti.com, PottiAnil.com and PottiAnil.net.

A number of social media accounts have also been opened under Potti’s name since he resigned from the University. A Twitter account, @anilpottimd, which was created three-and-a-half months ago, mentions Potti in the third-person and links to sites about the doctor. Accounts on other sites—including LinkedIn and Facebook—have also emerged. The Facebook profile features a photo of Potti not posted elsewhere on the Internet and now has 126 friends.

Which accounts and sites Online Reputation Manager created remains unclear. The publicly available contact information for AnilPotti.com lists an email account belonging to the firm. The social media accounts consist almost entirely of content from the recently created websites and links to them, a telltale sign that they were created by a reputation management firm, said Andy Beal, an expert in the industry.

Online Reputation Manager declined to comment on Potti’s use of its services, saying that client information is confidential.

Crossing the line?

Potti’s hiring of a reputation management firm raises ethical concerns. The content on his sites appears to be factually correct but avoids any mention of the missteps that now color the doctor’s legacy in the field.

Dr. Jerome Kassirer, former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, said that because Potti has withdrawn four papers—“an enormous number of important retractions”—an acknowledgement of his past on the sites is in order. The retractions, one of which was of an NEJM paper, are available online but will not be as easy to find given the reputation management efforts, he noted.

“It sounds like he has... crossed the line by not giving the whole story,” Kassirer said. “It seems to me inappropriate and unprofessional.”

Sheldon Krimsky, an expert on medical conflicts of interest and a professor at Tufts University, said trying to influence search engine results is not itself unethical, but it can be if a doctor is attempting to alter the public record.

“If he says anything that has been disputed by an authoritative body, it would be unethical for him to promote himself in that way,” he said.

Online Reputation Manager is generally willing to work with clients as long as the intent is not to hide criminal activity that has not yet been reported, even if the individual’s past actions were offensive, said Ronald Smith, the company’s manager of business development, who agreed to speak about the firm’s methods generally but not about particular clients. The company takes on about 90 percent of clients who request the firm’s help, he added.

“Offline, a lawyer is hired to help them out, fight their case—I think we’re the online lawyers,” he said. “So it’s quite ethical, on our part, and I think quite right to help them out at a certain charge.”

A growing trade

Potti’s use of this service is a part of an expanding online phenomenon. The industry grew with the rise of social networks, said Beal, who co-authored “Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online” and has helped businesses and individuals improve their online reputations. As Twitter and Facebook took off, individuals not only shared more information online but also regretted sharing it, he said.

“Around 2006, 2007, the coffee shop and water cooler chatter found a home on the Internet, and that’s when reputation management took off,” he said.

Online Reputation Manager typically launches four-month campaigns for specific key phrases that specialists find drive the most traffic to unfavorable content—or, as Smith called them, “offensive listings.”

“We take these key phrases and write down highly positive content that is in the form of articles and press releases and we send it to our clients in different batches,” he said. “Once our client approves of that content... we go ahead and publish it on some very authoritative and highly Google page-ranked websites on the Internet.”

Although the company offers customized contracts, clients of Online Reputation Manager are typically charged by the number of key phrases they wish to influence.

One key phrase—a name, for example—costs $500 a month for four months, Smith said. Specialists focus their efforts on the first page of search results, which is viewed by far more searchers than subsequent pages. Once the initial campaign ends, many clients pay for a maintenance plan, which costs 80 percent of the previous monthly fee.

Online Reputation Manager will also create websites for clients for $550 each, Smith said. Once the firm has created the site, the client is given full control of the site and is able to update or alter its content.

Demand for services like that of Online Reputation Manager continues to grow. Smith said the company is taking on 40 to 45 new projects a month.
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http://www.fayetteville-blog.com/2011/04/14/duke-lacrosse-accusers-boyfriend-dies-after-stabbing/

Duke lacrosse accuser’s boyfriend dies after stabbing
Posted on April 14, 2011 by Fayetteville Blog

Durham, N.C. — Family members of a man who was stabbed in his home April 3 say he died Wednesday evening. Crystal Mangum, the Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape in 2006, has been charged with assaulting him.

Durham police could not be reached for comment Wednesday night on whether her charges would be upgraded.

Police said Mangum, 32, stabbed Reginald Daye, 46, in the torso with a kitchen knife during a dispute at 3507 Century Oaks Drive early on April 3.

Daye was taken to Duke University Hospital, and Mangum was arrested in a nearby apartment.

A man who said he was Daye’s nephew called 911 to report the stabbing, saying it occurred while Daye and his girlfriend were arguing about rent money. The caller said police came to the apartment complex earlier while the couple argued, but the stabbing occurred after the officers left.

When asked for a description of the girlfriend, the caller said, “It’s Crystal Mangum. THE Crystal Mangum.”

He then added, “I told him she was trouble from the beginning.”

Mangum was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and was being held in the Durham County jail on a $300,000 bond.

In March 2006, Mangum claimed three white players on the Duke lacrosse team trapped her inside a bathroom at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., where she was performing as a stripper at a team party, and raped and sexually assaulted her.

Her story about the incident was so inconsistent that state officials later declared the players innocent, saying there was no credible evidence against them.

Former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong was later disbarred for withholding DNA evidence from defense attorneys in the case.

The three lacrosse players and some of their former teammates are suing Nifong and a police investigator, claiming their rights were violated during the case.

In February 2010, police arrested Mangum after an altercation between her and a different boyfriend. In that incident, she was accused of assaulting the man in front of her children and setting some of his clothes on fire.

She was later convicted of child abuse, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer in the case, but prosecutors dismissed an arson charge after a jury couldn’t reach a verdict.
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http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/articles/?p=39962

Next Up For Crystal Mangum: Murder Charge
by DBR, April 14th, 2011 | Main |

Unlike her previous encounters with the law, there’s no way to easily get away from a murder charge, and that’s what Crystal Mangum will like face this morning since the boyfriend she allegedly stabbed recently has expired.


In hindsight, it might have been better if after the lacrosse hoax fell apart had A.G. Roy Cooper either pursued charges or commitment for Mangum, who has done great damage not just to others now but also to herself and more tragically, to her children.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/14/1128412/two-jailed-but-mystery-has-produced.html

Published Thu, Apr 14, 2011 05:04 AM
Modified Wed, Apr 13, 2011 11:39 PM
Two jailed, but mystery has produced no bodies
BY JESSE JAMES DECONTO - Staff Writer
Published in: Crime/Safety
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MOSES01.041311.TI
TAKAAKI IWABU - tiwabu@newsobserver.com

Peter Lucas Moses Jr., 27, made his appearance in Durham County Detention Facility on Wednesday. He and Vania Sisk, 25, lived in what officials describe as a Black Hebrew polygamist group.

DURHAM Two people suspected of being killers are in jail as detectives struggle to find the evidence to keep them there.

Peter Lucas Moses Jr., 27, is being held under $50,000 bond on charges he hit victim "ZT," threatened her with a semiautomatic handgun and held her captive from February 2009 to February 2011.

He was arrested late Tuesday, along with Vania Sisk, one of the women who lived with Moses in what officials describe as a Black Hebrew polygamist group.

Sisk is charged with marijuana possession stemming from a Feb. 18 police visit to 2109 Pear Tree Lane where the group lived at the time.

Search warrants show that police suspect Moses may have murdered Sisk's son, 5-year-old Jadon Higganbothan, and that Sisk may have murdered 28-year-old Antoinetta McKoy, another woman who lived with the group, upon Moses' order.

"[Moses] stated that he would shoot and kill the victim if she left him," Assistant District Attorney Dan Willis said in a court hearing Wednesday.

No bodies have been recovered, however, and neither Moses nor Sisk has been charged with murder.

Durham police began investigating in early February after family members in Washington reported McKoy missing.

Confidential informants told police that Sisk shot and killed McKoy at Moses' command after McKoy argued with Moses and tried to leave the house. An informant also told investigators that Moses fatally shot the boy, hid his body in the attic and later removed it.

But District Attorney Tracey Cline said police need strong proof to file murder charges.

"We have to prove that a person is in fact murdered," Cline said. "It's very difficult to do that without a body."

Willis had asked that Moses be held on a $100,000 bond "based on everything that's going on." Moses' lawyer Woodrena Baker-Harrell argued that $6,000 should be adequate to get him to his next court session and that his family ties should keep him in Durham.

District Court Judge William Marsh, however, set the bond at $50,000. He also reduced Sisk's bond from $5,000 to $2,000 on the marijuana charge.

For most of Monday, a Durham police mobile substation and smaller crime lab unit were parked at 2109 Pear Tree Lane while investigators searched the house, nearby woods and a boarded-up house around the corner at 2310 So Hi Drive. The results of that search have not yet been made public, but a previous search found blood, a fired bullet, a shell casing and evidence of "overt cleaning," according to records.
jesse.deconto@newsobserver.com or 919-932-8760
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http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/04/14/for-huguely-defense-alcohol-may-play-role/

For Huguely defense, alcohol may play role

Past cases suggest difficulties proving premeditation with intoxicated defendant
By Rodger Nayak, Associate Editor on April 14, 2011

News outlets prepared for a statement from attorneys at the end of Monday’s preliminary hearing, but the court proceeding lasted much longer than expected. Photo by Claire Cowden

Two facts became clear after George Huguely’s gripping, surreal nine-hour preliminary hearing Monday: Huguely’s defense attorneys will continue to argue persistently that Yeardley Love’s death was an accident, and Huguely was highly intoxicated the night he admitted to kicking down the door of Love’s bedroom and “shook” Love, allowing her head “to repeatedly hit the wall,” according to an affidavit.

David Heilberg, a Charlottesville defense attorney who was not present at the hearing and is not involved in the case, said the fact that witnesses said Huguely was intoxicated may make it more difficult to prove premeditation, which would be required to convict for first-degree murder.

“Intoxication doesn’t make a killing unintentional,” said Heilberg, who also serves as president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “What it does is it can negate the element of premeditation.”

Heilberg recalled two clients of his who have escaped conviction because of an unusual defense: They were drunk. A 65-year-old woman alleged to have tried smothering her mother in a nursing home was convicted in 2008 of only second-degree attempted murder. And in December, a judge did not convict a man of attempted capital murder for allegedly speeding the wrong way on I-64 straight toward a police officer without swerving.

“Intoxication is not a defense for any crime in Virginia except first-degree murder,” Heilberg said.

Numerous accounts of Huguely’s actions indicate he drank throughout the day and was decidedly intoxicated in the evening and well into the night. Kevin Carroll, Huguely’s roommate, testified he saw Huguely drinking at 10 a.m. the morning of May 2, before a father-son golf tournament for the team at Wintergreen Resort.

“He seemed like he was starting to get a little bit drunk,” Carroll said.

All his teammates who testified described Huguely as drunk by the evening hours, and Will Bolton said he entered Carroll’s apartment shortly after midnight to see Huguely, whom he described as drunk, urinating in the bathroom with the door still open while wearing just his boxers. Earlier that night, a man matching Huguely’s description was seen leaving Love’s apartment complex wearing a bright blue shirt, shorts and white tennis shoes.

Still, his teammates did not say Huguely was particularly rowdy or aggressive. In his opening statement, Fran Lawrence, Huguely’s defense attorney, noted that during the night, Huguely had consumed too much alcohol, but was “not otherwise acting differently.” When asked about Huguely’s condition after a round of golf, Carroll said Huguely was “definitely drunk,” but could not point to any conduct that led him to believe this.

“I can’t recall any specifics,” he said.

Chris Clements, a teammate of Huguely’s, saw Huguely sitting calmly on his bed shirtless while holding his cell phone at 10:30 p.m., shortly before the man matching his description was seen exiting Love’s apartment complex. And later, Clements said he heard Huguely walking down the steps to his apartment and assumed it was him by the distinct way he was walking. Clements, who spent the entire night working on a paper, locked his door when he heard Huguely approach and told Huguely through the door to go away.

The next morning, when Charlottesville Police Detective Lisa Reeves arrived at Huguely’s apartment at around 7:45 a.m., Huguely remained calm, Reeves testified. He put on his shoes, followed Reeves to her police car and rode to the police station. Huguely did not ask questions during the drive to the police station and did not show reluctance to follow Reeves into the interrogation room. Reeves noted during the drive to the police station, however, that she could smell alcohol on his breath.

A camera in the interrogation room recorded the conversation between Reeves and Huguely, and during his opening statement at the preliminary hearing Monday, Lawrence said Huguely did not know Love had died until Reeves told him one hour into their interview.

“She’s dead, George. You killed her,” Reeves told Huguely, according to Lawrence.

Huguely reacted in shock. “She’s not dead. I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t,” he said, according to Lawrence.

Lawrence said Huguely’s reaction demonstrated that Huguely never intended to kill Love, an argument which appears to push most strongly for manslaughter.

Should a jury agree with Lawrence that Love’s death was an accident, he may be convicted of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, or manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Heilberg said Huguely’s preliminary hearing was exceptional in almost every way, and during the nearly 30 years he has spent practicing in Charlottesville, he has not heard of anything like it.
“Everything about this preliminary was highly unusual,” he said.

He could not recall any hearing lasting nearly as long as Huguely’s did, nor could he recall an instance where officials moved a General District Court case to the Circuit Court to allow for more spectators.

It remains plausible, he said, that a plea deal which settles the case before trial might be worked out, but now that the preliminary hearing has taken place, a trial must begin within five months — a restriction which stems from a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

The case now advances to a grand jury, which convenes Monday and will again assess the evidence to determine whether the case should proceed to trial.
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http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/virginia/2010/12/no-death-penalty-huguely-cops-say

No death penalty for Huguely, cops say
Comments (5)
image/jpeg iconkiller3_0.jpg
Prosecutors have no plans to seek the death penalty for George Huguely V, the 23-year-old University of Virginia lacrosse player charged with brutally slaying his former girlfriend, police say.

And there is a growing consensus that the case will be settled in a plea deal before trial, said persons close to both the prosecution and the Huguely family.

Huguely, of Chevy Chase, has been locked in a Charlottesville jail cell for seven months awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges for the beating death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love, a fellow classmate and lacrosse player. He will face prosecutors on Jan. 21 for the first time since his May bond hearing.

Timeline
May 3: Police find Yeardley Love's body in her Charlottesville apartment around 2 a.m., after her roommate called 911 reporting a possible alcohol overdose. Within hours, police arrest George Huguely V.
May 4: Charlottesville judge orders Huguely to remain in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bail.
May 5: Police search Huguely's apartment and collect evidence including a red-stained shirt, two computers and a letter addressed to Love.
June 8: Huguely court date postponed to Oct. 7.
July 7: Charlottesville medical examiner rules Love's death a homicide by blunt force trauma.
Sept. 24: Huguely court date postponed to Jan. 21.

"Capital murder is not even a consideration right now," said Charlottesville police spokesman Gary Pleasants. Pleasants has been communicating with lead detective Lisa T. Reeves and prosecutor Dave Chapman since police found Love's body in the early morning hours of May 3.

Chapman has remained tight-lipped on the case from the beginning, his policy for all open investigations. He would not comment for this article.

Police arrested Huguely hours after officers found Love's body, bruised and bloodied with her right eye swollen shut, lying face-down in her Charlottesville apartment.

Huguely told police he fought with Love the night she died and shook her while her head hit the wall, according to police documents. Huguely also admitted he saw blood dripping from Love's nose before he pushed her onto her bed, stole her computer and left.

A graduate of the Landon School in Bethesda, Huguely has been locked in solitary confinement inside a 4-foot by 8-foot cell at Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, according to classification officer Randy Keffer. Friends who visited him earlier this fall said the once "pudgy" athlete -- whose playing weight at U.Va. last year was 209 pounds -- appears to have lost roughly 30 pounds.

The first-degree murder charges against Huguely are one step down from the death penalty, and carry a minimum 20 years to life in prison. But prosecutors have the option to upgrade the charges to capital murder, with the potential for the death penalty, at any time.

The death penalty in Virginia requires a finding of first-degree murder and evidence of at least one of 12 aggravating factors. These include illegal acts committed in association with the slaying, like a rape or kidnapping connected with a murder, or a killing while committing a robbery.

"The charges are not going to change," Pleasants said.

At Huguely's January hearing, prosecutors will reveal just enough evidence for a Charlottesville judge to order that the case move forward to a trial.

But Pleasants says it is unlikely the case will make it to opening arguments.

He said he believed it is likely that Chapman and Huguely's defense -- led by Charlottesville attorney Francis McQ. Lawrence -- will instead negotiate a settlement. Pleasants said that was his opinion, and some of the other detectives would disagree. Chapman has not revealed whether he would consider settling.

Huguely's family wants to keep the case from playing out in courts and is under the impression that a settlement is in the works, according to a Bethesda couple close to Huguely's father. The couple asked not to be named for this story. Attempts to reach Huguely's father, George Huguely IV, went unanswered.

A settlement could be beneficial to the prosecution as well, according to Charlottesville defense attorney David L. Heilberg.

"If [prosecutors] have a strong enough case, they will settle," said Heilberg, who is not involved in the case, but has practiced law in the area for three decades. "[Prosecutors] are getting what they want out of the case by agreement: Angling for Huguely to plead to something, whatever it might be, [for a sentence] not less than 40 years -- and then let a judge decide."

A trial could give the defense an opportunity to build a strong case arguing Huguely acted out of passion the night Love was killed, which could help lessen Huguely's charges to second-degree murder or manslaughter, Heilberg said.

hpeterson@washingtonexaminer.com
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The prosecutors will seek the highest charges with the grand jury for purposes of leveraging a plea deal down the road. I doubt seriously that this case even will go to trial unless the prosecution insists on actually trying him for first-degree murder and refuses to budge at all.

That is not going to happen. They won't let him plead out to manslaughter, but will allow a second-degree murder plea, or so I predict.

:bill:
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It remains plausible, he said, that a plea deal which settles the case before trial might be worked out, but now that the preliminary hearing has taken place, a trial must begin within five months — a restriction which stems from a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.


Obviously the Sixth Amendment does not apply in North Carolina--you get neither a preliminary hearing or a
right to a speedy trial.
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