Judge rejects newspaper's request to see documents in Yeardley Love case

An Albermarle County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday rejected an attempt by The Washington Post and three other news organizations to unseal an order that sealed search warrant information in the slaying of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love, 22, of Cockeysville.

Judge Cheryl V. Higgins ruled that the order constituted a proceeding, and therefore, the news groups should have filed a petition to intervene in that event, rather than petition the court later.

Reading from Black’s law dictionary, Higgins defined the term “proceeding” as: “An act which is done by the authority or discretion of the court agency; an act necessary to be done in order to obtain a given end.”

Attorney Craig T. Merritt – arguing on behalf of The Post, The Daily Progress, The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Associated Press – responded by asking the judge if there was a docketed proceeding in the court in which his clients could have intervened.

Higgins then restated that the order constituted the proceeding.

George Huguely V of Chevy Chase, a player on the men's lacrosse yeam, is charged in Love's slaying. The newspapers were ultimately seeking to unseal search warrants for Huguely's home in Charlottesville.

-- Steve Yanda