as the defense claiming? julie carr carey joins us from charlottesville with today's announcement. >> reporter: jurors were making progress and willing to stay late and deliberate into the night if need be, but asked the judge to touch base again 6 p.m. right now, we are awaiting word from the courtroom where weather jurors are asking for dinner or nearing an end. but it has become clear today with the questions from the judge and the evidence they are asking to see, they are taking a very close look at george huguely's intent on the night of may 2, 2010. the jury hadn't been behind closed doors long before asking for the dramatic videotaped police inter gauges of george hoounlly. into the jury room went the dvd and the big screen monitor at the center of the courtroom throughout the trial. then late this afternoon, the jury asked for a handwritten letter from huguely to love, evidence found on the bedside table. in it, huguely apologizes for an earlier choking incident and for

his out of control drinking. court observers say it is clear the jury is taking a close look at the accused killer's state of mind. jurors must decide if huguely intended to harm love when he kicked in her bedroom door, assaulted her and left her bleeding or whether her death was an accident. >> state of mind is extremely important. so the words that someone writes, the words the defendant writes is very important in the jury's overall consideration. >> reporter: jurors several choices before them in deciding what role huguely played it love's death. even in closing arguments, prosecutor dave chapman seemed to back away from calling the killing premeditated first degree murder but jurors can consider a different first-degree murder, felony murder, that's killing in commission of a robbery and huguely took love's laptop. second degree murderer is another option. it is a killing with malicious intent. >>. >> malice is the attempt to maim, disable, disfigure or kill

there is very arguably an intent to disable and if the jury finds that on those instructions, it could be second-degree murder. >> reporter: jurors could settle on one of two less serious charges, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. and the jury has to sort through some lesser charges like larceny and burglary relating to the theft of yeardley love's computer. this long deliberations is no surprise, it is a very complicated case with a lot of charges to review. the jury had a three-daybreak from the time closing arguments were made today so they probably had to regroup and review a bit before they got started today. julie cary, news4. a developing story in virginia politics, lawmakers in the house of delegates passed a scaled black version of an abortion bill. the bill would have required a invasetive procedure for those

who sought south a abortion. the scaled back version comes after an about face from governor bob mcdom. melissa mollet in our newsroom with this. >> reporter: talk aboutth in last week of course, met with outrage and national ridicule. the internal ultrasound was scrapped helping to determine the age of the fetus. protest also erupt over the proposal this one in richmond on monday. now, governor bob mcdonnell has back aid way saying man dating an invasive procedure is not a role for the state. the new bill passed by a 65-32 vote only requires an external ultrasound. head back to the senate where it its spoons say they had would strikely strike the lemon station. jen? >> thanks, melissa. the race for the white house, good news for mitt romney, the latest nbc news poll shows him in a tie with rick santorum in the michigan primary. the wealthy ought to pay higher

income taxes, romney says. steve handelsman has more. steve? >> reporter: on this one issue, taxing the rich, romney is suddenly sounding like a democrat. in arizona, mitt romney call forward 20% across-the-board income tax cut but raised eyebrows by also calling for a tax the rich more plan like president obama. . >> i'm going to make sure they are paying what they are paying or more. >> reporter: or more. barack obama says that's what fair, high-income folks to pay more. he would raise their tax rate. the president today proposed a cut in corporate tax rates, like romney proposes, but not as big a cut. but some obama and romney proposals are converging. and in states that vote tuesday, arizona and michigan, voters see

romney as the republican with the best shot to beat the president. that helps explain romney's 16-point lead in arizona in today's nbc news/marist poll and romney's comeback in michigan. >> thank you. >> reporter: where the rick santorum surge seems over. romney and santorum are in a virtual tie in romney's must-win home state. santorum told tea partiers in tucson today he is the only religious and fiscal conservative. >> you will find one candidate who has been unafraid to go out and fight on all of the issues. >> reporter: newt gingrich is counting on tonight's debate to spark a comeback. >> my goal is going to be to go back to the big solutions and big issues and not get drug down to his level. >> reporter: he means mitt romney, whose popularity levels in today's polls seem to indicate he is back on track. you the 8:00 debate in arizona could shake up things again and the last time candidates will clash before super tuesday you can the week after next.

dore reap, back to you. >> steve handlesman reporting, thank you, steve. >> welcome. the man from alexandria virginia, charged with planning a suicide bombing at the u.s. capitol informs court for a bond hearing. he waived his right to hearings. he is 29 years old. they arrested him last friday. he has been charged with attempting to use a weapons of mass destruction. prosecutors say cal leafy discussed the attack with an undercover fbi agent posing as a member of al qaeda that case has now gone to a grand jury. police are trying to figure out what sparked a shooting at a walmart distribution center in virginia today. it happened in dunwoody about 25 miles south of richmond. investigators say a worker at that center shot his manager in the leg. they say he also fired on sheriff deputies who responded before he shot himself. he died from that shooting. the manager was taken to a

nearby hospital. she is expected to be okay. a monumental dedication on the national mall today. president obama attended the long-awaited ground breaking for the national museum of african-american history and culture. tom sherwood has our report. >> reporter: from stirring national anthem -- ♪ >> reporter: to cultural songs that span generations, the new african-american museum of history and culture that is to open in 2015 was celebrated wednesday with a ceremonial groundbreaking of the $500 million museum, likely the last to be built on the national mall. >> it was on this ground long ago that lives were once traded,

where hundreds of thousands once marched for jobs and for freedom. it was here that the pillars of our democracy were built often by black hands. >> reporter: a crowd of tourists gathered to be near the museum as crowds were cleared from roof tops and streets. some listened on iphones and others on tablets. >> remember all the cultures that make up america, we are about diverts and cull daughters -- diversity and cultures that combine to make us one great country. >> reporter: mildred green didn't have a ticket but came

from new york anyway to sit nearby on a bench at this emotional moment. >> i'm very happy that my history is going to be told and kept, just like everyone else's. >> they still need $150 noll complete the project. a state lawmaker in indiana is standing by his claim that the girl scouts have become a radical organization that promotes abortions and homosexuality. republican state lawmaker bob mars was ridiculed by the leader of his own party yesterday for comments that he made in a letter that he cement sent to o republicans in the state house. he said he conducted internet research that led him to conclude that the scouts are what he called a tactical arm of planned parenthood. >> my problem is on a personal level with my family and our believes and my wife and i pulled our daughters out of girl scouts effective yesterday. >> we have no relationship with planned parenthood, doesn't

exist. there's no formal relationship. there's no money that changes hands. we have no relationship. and that's the bottom line. >> planned parenthood also released a statement calling bob morris' allegations woefully inaccurate. indiana's republican house speaker dismissed his colleague's comments as absurd and handed out girl scout cookies from the podium at the state house yesterdaand that's . state house yesterdaystate hous the supreme court weighing in on a law that makes lying about military honers is a crime. and cameras that may catch you by surprise. and we will hear from the dog whisperer of baghdad. meet the local man who is finding homes for abused animals in iraq. doug, what's coming up in weather? >> a good story. good story, too, in the weather. a beautiful day today. i think even warmer tomorrow, but in between, the radar has something that you might want to

see, too. i will talk about that in just a minute. dan? the caps going north of the border where they could be without their biggest star. the terps win a thriller against miami. an

the u.s. embassy in afghanistan is on lock down because of violent anti-american protests there seven people have been killed in demonstrations sparked by the burning of the muslim holy book at a nato military base in kabul. u.s. officials say copies of the koran were removed from a prison library because the detainee there is wrote radical messages in them. those books were placed in the trash that was later burnt. apologize from u.s. and nato officials failed to stop the demonstrations in kabul and elsewhere. now to syria where two western journalists were killed today, the victims, marie colvin who worked for a british newspaper, the sunday times for 25 years and a french photojournalist, remy oak lick, killed were the city of homs when a rocket hit a house serving as a makeshift media center. nearly 9,000 people have been killed since government troops started cracking down on opposition activists in syria nearly a year ago. the supreme court is now debating a law that makes it

illegal to lie about being a war hero that case concerns a man from california who made false claims about winning the medal of honor and in fact, never even served. raising questions about whether the government can prosecute for other lies. brian mooar reports. >> reporter: when javier alvarez told a public board meeting he had won the congressional medal of honor, he was like and he was prosecuted under a federal law that protects military honors and the heroes who have earned them, but in the u.s. supreme court, his attorney argued that 2005 stolen valor act passed by congress was unconstitutionally broad and that even some lies are protected by the first amendment. >> what we have argued is there needs to be harm associated with a lie in order for it to be up protected under the first amendment. >> reporter: the justices struggled with two central questions, whether lies have any first amendment value and when someone lies about a military honor, who is harmed?

perjury suspect protected free speech, neather is defamation or trying a federal officer. solicitor general told the justices the government has an interest in protecting its highest awards. that's an argument made by veterans groups, too. >> doesn't diminish my accomplishment but what it does is when they are exposed as phony it puts question marks over my service. >> reporter: but chief justice john roberts asked where do you stop? can congress pass a law to prevent people from lying about having a high school diploma? justice elena kagan asked whether the government could go after like political candidates or cheating spouses. the trouble, justice stephen breyer said, is you can think of 10,000 circumstances. still, some of the justices seemed less than convinced that pup nishing a lie about a medal would chill free speech. the court record shows alvarez told a lot of lies but one of them is destined to redefine free speech. at the supreme court in

washington, brian mooar, nbc news. some breaking news, the jury in the murder trial of a university of virginia lacrosse player may be getting close to reaching a verdict tonight. julie carey is live with an update. jew julie? >> reporter: this jury deliberating nine hours now and gave the judge their latest update. they told the judge they need another 30 to 60 minutes to deliberate. they told the jim, for now, they are declining dinner that could mean one of two things. it could mean that they are closing in on their verdict and expect to have it soon or it could mean they are getting weary and when they report banks backe to the judge the next time, they may say they want to call it quits for the night. the jim talked to the prosecution and the defense team in the courtroom and asked them, hypothetically, if the jury does reach a verdict in the next 30 to 60 minutes works they be willing to begin the sentencing hearing tonight. in virginia, once a verdict is render, then the jury starts to hear witnesses in the sentencing hearing and later comes back for a decision on that. so the attorneys said they would be willing to start that process

tonight. the judge said the latest he is willing to go with any of this is 10 p.m. so we will be standing bind gift latest word from the jury when we get t. >> julie carey reporting with the latest from charlottesville. keep us posted, please. doug's here now with another check of our weather forecast. >> doesn't get much better than this. >> sure doesn't. >> it is just really, really that nice outside. been a fantastic day today. i think it will be better tomorrow, temperatures could be near 70 degrees during the day tomorrow. in between now and tomorrow, some shower activity. you thought i was going to say night time that is a given. out there clouds across the area, sun making its way down, fairly nice sunset, a lot of clouds, those making their way in ahead of a storm system that will bring us shower activity throughout the night tonight, high temperature made it to 63, with a low this morning of 43 degrees, extremely mild and we have really been that way all winter long. last winter, the average high temperature for december -- for

december, january and february was 43.9 degrees. so far, december, january and february. got me now? okay. >> there you go. >> this winter, at 50.8 degrees. that is seven degrees warmer for the high temperatures and you know we felt it, just another day today, temperatures well above average. 57 out there now. wind out of the south, 11 miles per hour. here is the current temperatures, 61 in culpepper, 58, charlottesville, 49 in pax river, water influence. here is the cloud cover making its way across the region and the shower activity back toward the west. even some thunderstorms and some severe weather potentially in through ken keep and down into portions of tennessee. going to watch that system it is a frontal boundary, make its way through the region overnight tonight. we widen out. look at these numbers to the south. 74 today in jackson, near 80 in dallas, 65 in atlanta, 70 in raleigh. that warmer air continue to filter in here as we make our way through the night tonight and the day tomorrow that

southwesterly wind. there is our next storm system it rolls on through tomorrow. behind it, behind the cold front, we get warmer, 70 the day tomorrow, nice warm air, warm front passes on by, here is our next frontal bound rib, that moving through on friday, a good chance of rain on friday, most of it should be on lighter side. behind that front, cool breezy the day on friday and especially the day on saturday. but notice, it is cool, not cold. could be a very good weekend for the ski resorts, especially back there toward west virginia and maryland. even our local ski resorts should be a good weekend there, going to be on the warm side. increasing clouds a chance of showers moving in late, 50 to 55 degrees, tomorrow morning, we will see those numbers on the mild side. 40, some of the colder suburbs, 46 in the city. our average shy 49. close to our average high to start day that tells you we are going to be a lot warmer than

that by afternoon. partly sunny, breezier lakers taste of april. 65 to 70. winds out of the southwest, 10 to 20 miles per hour. stay on the mild side friday, the front moves through, high 65, 50 on saturday. sunshine on sunday, temperature 526789 we stay above average just about every single day next week, watching the storm next wednesday, that is seven days out right now, going for a high of 48. >> i did hear you say you are looking for invitations for backyard weather tomorrow? >> yes, exactly. starting our backyard weather seven months early this year. >> thanks. coming up tonight, one of the biggest events, metro is announcing plans to make it easier to get around the city during the cherry blossom festival. news4ation long as crews inspect dozens of signs in northern virginia nearly two weeks after one of them came crashing down onto a pickup

>> today, metro's gm announced a bring break of sorts to help with the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to visit

washington during the national cherry blossom festival. starting saturday march 24th, metro will suspend weekend track work and last through sunday, april 15th. during the season of the cherry blossoms all work will happen after 10:00 in the evening and metro will resume track work on friday, april 20th. metro is the most popular choice for tourist and locals alike when it comes to getting down to the tidal basin. on of a range the agency sees a 15% spike in ridership during the festival and the weekends, the number of riders can double to near weekday levels when the weather is nice. this year marks a monumental point in the festival, the 100 anniversary of the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from japan. officials expect to announce peak bloom prediction some time after march 1st. jim, doreen? >> thanks, angie. montgomery county is adding speed cameras to get drivers to slow down but this time, the cameras will be movable.

the police chief says people know where the speed camas are located them slow down to avoid a ticket but then they speed right back up again. so now the county is using mobile speed cameras to keep drivers guessing. >> when we have a fixed pole camera where everybody slows down, we're going to put that mobile camera a quarter mile down the road, those people that think i slowed down for the one camera and decide they want to speed back up, they may, in fact, get caught by the mobile cameras. >> chief major says the goal is to get drivers to slow down, not to make money on the tickets. man versus nature in a local community. original up ers do not want to leave. we spent several days with local animal control officers and found almost half of their calls now deal with wild animals. from coons in the bathroom to snakes in the kitchen. why a housing boom in the last two years caused a serious possible for local governments. invite you to join us on news4

at 11:00 as we take you for a ride out wild side. next on news4, a local map's mission to rescue dolls frgs fr war zone and find them homes in our area. allegations of misconduct rocked aed an elementary school a substitute teacher put on leave as a child's mother shares her story here on news4. former redskins quarterback calls off his destination wedding after guest also alres y arrived at the destination. bryce harper is talking big league. the impact he hopes to make on the nationals. from one superstar to ♪ let me get that door for you... [ man ] i loved my first car...

sometimes the door gets stuck... oh sure. ooh! [ man ] ...and then, i didn't. um... [ sighs ] [ man ] so, i got a car i can love a really, really long time. [ male announcer ] for the road ahead, the all-new subaru impreza®. ♪ experience love that lasts.

moments ago, jurors in the george huguely trial told the judge in charlottesville, virginia that they should be able to wrap up deliberations in about an hour and they are following stay late to consider sentencing. the jury is deciding whether the former uva lacrosse player is guilty of first-degree murder or lesser charges in the beating death of his ex-girlfriend, yeardley love. the republican presidential candidates will meet for a debate tonight in arizona. michigan and arizona primaries are next tuesday. a new nbc news marist bomb shows mitt romney and rick santorum deadlocked in michigan. romney has a comfortable lead in arizona. a big change to a republican bill that required an intravaginal ultrasound inspection for women seek an abortion. protests had erupted over the proposal and early think

afternoon, virginia governor bob mcdonnell asked lawmakers to make an amendment. they dropped the internal ultrasound requirement and pass and amended bill remembering an external ultrasound only. by a vote of 65-32, that bill heads to the virginia senate. now, here is talk doug with a check of the forecast. >> right now, watching a line of very strong and severe thunderstorms making its way through kentucky and tennessee now, watch as that same system moves our way, yes, i think we will see rain tonight, shower activity. i don't expect to see any thunderstorms here but there could be some just to our south over the next couple of days as we get very warm. we will have to talk about that in just a couple of minutes. >> thanks, doug. a substitute teacher dismissed on the public school in prince george's county after he allegedly physically assaulted a 10-year-old boy. it happened at lake arbor elementary school in mitchellville today. and tonight, the boy's mother spoke exclusively with chris gordon. >> reporter: 10-year-old deandre

davis is a fifth grade who hopes to someday become an engineer. he attended lake arbor elementary school since kinder garnt. a male substitute teacher in english class felt deandre was misbehaving, talking in class after he was asked to stop. deandre's mother says the substitute teacher assaulted her son. >> the scuffle amounted to him forcefully grabbing my son and pushing him to the ground several times. he tried to physically remove him from the classroom in a manner that his glasses fell off his face and he was thrown out into the hallway onto the floor. >> your reaction, as a parent? >> i was devastated. i was shocked. >> reporter: the principal here at lake arbor elementary school informed parents through a recorded phone call that the teacher has been remove and will not substitute here at this school again. >> he woke up this morning and

he asked if the substitute teacher was going to hurt us and i told him, no. >> meaning what, come here? >> come here or come to the school, so i kept him home. >> reporter: the prince george's county public schools issued this statement. "any time an allegation of physical abuse occurs, we immediately contact child protective service. we conducted an internal investigation of the incident and found no signs of physical abuse. we will deal with the substitute teacher appropriately." a representative of prince george's county public schools told met teacher has been dismissed. i asked what that means. i was told he is no longer in the school system as a substitute. this is chris gordon, news4. breaking news in the george huguely murder trial now, jurors have reached a verdict in that case. we don't know what it is yet. as soon as we do, women go back to julie carey in

charlottesville could have hearing it trial and we will bring that to you as soon as it comes. the officers who investigated a deadly drive by shooting in southeast d.c. testified today in the second day of what could be a trial that lasts three moments. five young men are facing first-degree murder charges in that case. it all started back in march of 2010 with -- when -- with the disappear pappear rance of a che die mond bracelet. that led to one shooting and another a week later n all, five people were killed, nine injured. >> how many shots do you remember? >> five more there. i got up, i just saw the guy running over there at least 10, 11 shots. >> each of the five defendants in the case is facing a sentence of life in prison without the

possibility of parole. police are asking for help in tracking down a group of vandals who caused significant damage to a new mosque in fairfax county. the mosque is under construction in chantilly. last moment, police say someone broke nearly all of the custom windows in that building. damages expected to be about $200,000. investigators say they found several empty bottles of alcohol nearby. police are offering a cash reward in solving the case. thousands of dogs in iraq have been abandoned or neglected their entire lives but now, some of them are finding a new life here in the washington area. it is all thanks to a man from maryland known to some as the dog whisperer of baghdad. melissa mollet has our report. >> life is good, isn't it? >> reporter: for andrew leeson, it was love at first sight. >> total sweetheart and really bonded very closely. >> reporter: he fell in love with two face, she's mutt he found living on a firing range

in irrang. he was working as security contractor. >> as a form of therapy, i have reached out to the stray animals and cared for them and they cared for me. >> reporter: during his seven years overseas, andrew became a foster parent to hundreds of dogs living october streets. >> just known that i was dog whisperer of baghdad. >> reporter: there are house to isn't as roaming the city, they spend their lives scrounging for scraps and hiding for survival. andrew would visit two face and her siblings every day. >> we were like this. rocket or mortar would fly overhead. >> reporter: friend john shank also spent time there. >> like open hunting season on dogs. that was their way of controlling the population. >> reporter: while andrew was spending thousands on dog food, surgery for one dog hit by a car, even paying people to help protect the pups. >> i was a pretty good student of poker. >> reporter: with the help of the spca international's operation baghdad pups rescue program, he was able to send some to the u.s.

sir rah is now in bel-air, barry lives in finksburg and mr. bear in ross lind. last fall, andrew sent out an e-mail trying to find two face a home. >> she was actually escorted with armed security. >> reporter: john saw this photo of her and was sold. >> she smiled. she definitely has us wrapped around her paw. >> reporter: andrew says he considers saving these dogs one of his biggest accomplishments while he was overseas. the issue though cost and security. there are hundreds of dogs that he wanted to help but only four have been able to making the trip. >> i had dozens lined up at different stages. >> reporter: so far, operation baghdad pups has sent more than 300 dogs state side. eight are scheduled to arrive in the u.s. soon, five need homes. >> you made it, kid. you hit the lottery. >> reporter: northeast washington, melissa mel i you news4. >> for more information on adopting those dogs that will be arriving in the states soon or to donate to operation baghdad pups, we invite you to our website, nbcwashington.com. >> got to be happy for them.

>> mm-hmm. absolutely. still ahead on news4, highway signs across virginia being inspected after a dangerous accident. tonight, news4 tags along as crews make those safety checks. we will tell you h -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur?] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that c help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

a look at charlottesville, virginia, now, where the jury has just reached a verdict in the george huguely trial, a lacrosse player at the university of virginia. he's been charged with beating to death his girlfriend named yeardley love. julie cary is in the courthouse there we will have a live report as soon as the verdict is announced. here is doug with another look at our weather. doug? >> not just another look at our weather but another look at something that i know you were interested in. hook at this video. once again in a little bit of a storm. look at this coronal mass ejection there and that leads to that on your right, that is the aurora borealis, amazing shot, these are from finland, spectacular as far as that is concerned. got to make that up, check those things out, beautiful,

beautiful, beautiful, some enhanced activity toward the arctic. eastern around the americ cast. nice, warm, stay that way, 11 miles an hour. 61, culpepper, 58, la plate ta, gaithersburg, 57, look at the radar, you notice back down to the south and west, eastern one-third of the state of tennessee under a severe thunderstorm warning right now. going to be out there evening into the overnight hours, take your umbrella with you. some observers in washington are observing ash wednesday dur their commute. they are getting ashes outside the virginia square metro stop this morning.

the church says ashes are given to anyone who wants to take part in the tradition. ash wednesday marks the first day of lent which christians observed 40 days leading up to easter sunday. former redskins quarterback jason campbell fumbles on his wedding plans. campbell played for the redskins from 2005 to 2009. he and fiancee jenny montes were supposed to tie the knot in the dominican republic this past weekend. an exclusive resort was booked. more than 100 guests flew in, but on the day of the wedding, they were told there wouldn't be a wedding. the two came to a decision to put things off after discussing it for a couple of weeks. >> guests said no wedding, we are in the dr. where is the pool? what's up, dan? alex ovechkin not feeling too well. he is hurting a bit. tell you if he is going to play in tonight's game. catch one bryce harper as he tries to crack the nationals' opening day roster. ♪

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there was another member of the media who implied we are not a baseball town because the rest of the media doesn't cover the

nationals enough. >> who stayed this? >> boswell. >> said we don't cover it enough? >> grumpy, isn't he? >> i disagree with that. >> the biggest nationals fan around. he has a point. my point is this when the nationals win, they will be covered. oh, absolutely, that's how it goes. >> we are front runners, the first to admit t we all r everybody is going to like this guy, bryce harper, a man on a mission. last year, he was 18, harper wanted to make the major league roster out of spring training. this year, co-make it to the big leagues out of spring training but it is going to be a long shot. even with all the new pitchers at spring training this year are the 19-year-old bryce harper is the biggest story in big league camp. he is the top prospect in baseball. he has the potential to be the largest star this town has seep in a long time in just about two years but the nationals want to be smart. if they start harper out in washington when the season starts, he hits free agency a year early. so they will likely wait until at least may to call him up to the majors. here's bryce's take on what he's

trying to accomplish in spring training. >> you know, i'm just going to come in here and let them make that decisions themselves and make that as hard as i can on them and, you know, the thing is i want to get to the big league and i want to make an impact. i don't want to be up in the big league and say we are going to send to you aaa because you are not doing so well for us. i want to get there and stay there so if that means coming out of camp this year and playing good and things like that then so be it, but you know if they send me down, get more at-bats and things like that i'm going to work with that and try to get up here as quick as i can and hopefully we won't have to talk about me going down to the minors. >> back to baseball in a minute. weaver duct. >> with he do ha >> we do have a verdict. the jury has found george huguely guilty of second degree murder in the beating death of his ex-girlfriend, yeardley love. again, guilty of second-degree

murder. we have a reporter inside the courthouse and we will bring you a live report as soon as possible. not the most difficult charge he could have faced. difficult transition but now going from bryce harper to caps who are in some desperate straits now. >>ville desperation mode for the capitals these days, coming off a loss so barked the owner called the team out on his own blog. they had been overmatched by inferior teams on a regular basis and the new coach supposed to bring structure and discipline has really not made them any better, at least not yet, tonight's game in ottawa is crucial a.m. the problem now, the capitals will be without their best player, alex ovechkin questionable because of a lower body. capitals must find way to get a win after ugly loss to carolina drew the ire of the owner who

called it simply unacceptable. >> i think we would agree with him. obviously not the game we wanted to play and with how important these points are these days, we got to be better. got to be a lot better. it is over and done with, we got to worry about tonight. >> said the same things if i were him and, you know, he is very active on the internet and running his blog every day and stuff like that so the players, i don't think he -- we are embarrassed enough after that last game without him. he doesn't have to say much. it is a -- you know, we are all embarrassed for ourselves. >> sorry going to have to interrupt you again. julie carey has been covering this huguely trial, murder trial in charlottesville. she is on the scene to tell us more this verdict reached tonight, guilty of second-degree murder. julie? >> reporter: after nine hours of deliberation, the jury hand the judge their verdict you can the

judge read the six charges against georgehuguely, the jury found him guilty of seco second-degree murder and grand larceny. right before the judge delivered the verdict, george huguely stood before the jurors, he crossed himself, but that was the only outward sign of emotion he's listened to that verdict of second-degree murder. the many family members, both on george huguely's side of the courtroom and then the family of yeardley love on the prosecution's side of the courtroom, sat quietly. we have seen a lot of tears and even some outward sobs during the course of this trial but the courtroom was, for the most part, silent. no obvious signs of tears or emotion. even on the face of yeardley love's mother around sister who were in the front row. the jury now will be about the sentencing hearing. there is a brief recess right now, start considering the penalty for george hugely, second-degree murder carries five to 40 years in prison. this is the point of the hearing start hearing from huguely's

members. his mother and father have not witnessed this hearing because they are going to be called as witnesses in the sentencing hearing. they expect emotional testimony coming this evening after a recess, but again, george huguely was found guilty of seco second-degree murder, one of the verdicts pushed for in closing arguments. they seemed to back away saturday base old the idea this was a premeditated murder and suggest instead they find him guilty of first degree felony murder, the killing in the process of the robbery, the robbery, the taking of yeardley love's laptop or the prosecution suggested second degree murder might be appropriate. and that kind of murderer is defined as not a premeditated murder but a killing with malice. the prosecution certainly from the moment george huguely kicked down yeardley love's bedroom door, went into a room, shook her, hit her head against the floor and left bleeding on her bed, that was a sign of mall

lass. george humely's attorneys have said to the jury all along this was an accident, george huguely never meant any harm to his former girlfriend. they hoped he would come back with the letters charges, involuntary manslaughter x they were unable to make their case to the jury around the prosecution won one of the verdicts sought, second-degree murder conviction of george hoounlly. sentencing hearing will begin soon and bring the latest tonight at 11:00. >> do you anticipate that the jury will decide on the sentence before the night is over or is that expected to take a while. >> sentencing hearings in virginia is hugely brief. sometimes they can take as little as an hour, even in murder cases, however, this trial, actually every step of the way has gone on longer than anyone expected. we note judge is willing to go on until 10:00 tonight, so there is a chance that we will also

have a sentencing decision tonight. we will just have to see. >> can you just briefly tell us what the jury's vole in the the jury has one role. the judge also plays a role in the seine tension, doesn't he? >> that's right. again, the jury will hear from a variety of witnesses o both sides, the prosecution will call witnesses, witnesses that have been impacted by this tragic death of yeardley love's and then the defense will call witnesses to the stand to talk about george huguely's character to hopefully convince the jury to bring out some of his positive traits. we have heard many negative traits during the hearing. then the jury deliberates and makes a sentencing recommendation and that decision was given to the judge and then the judicial sentencing comes at a later date, probably three months or so hence. the judge cannot increase the ensentence, he can lower the sentence recommended by the jury that is the role they play, very important row.

>> and do we -- do we know about the guidelines or the possish sentences that george humely could face for the second-degree murder conviction? >> right. the second-degree murder conviction has a broad sentencing range. from a minimum of five years a maximum of 40 years. so, that is going to be very interesting to see what mess ant jury delivers with its sentencing recommendation t. >> julie, you said there were six charges, you mentioned gland larceny and second-degree murder. do you know what the other charges, ver dprikts on the other charges. >> right. he was -- read back a charge of not guilty on the felony murder charge, a first-degree murder charge not guilty on robbery, not guilty on burglary with intent to commit larceny and the not guilty on statutory burglary, which is breaking and entering, with an intent to assault and batter. those charges were very similar to the grand larceny charge they found him guilty of, the taking

of the computer. but one thing that they showed by that grand larceny conviction is that the taking of the computer was an aftercharge. they would have to had to be believed george huguely went into that apartment in part to take yeardley love's computer. the prosecution tried make that case but the jury obviously didn't believe it was an afterpart on george huguely's thought. he took computer as collateral. the prosecution believes took it to deprive yeardley love as the only means of communication, she lost her cell phone that week. >> you mentioned went verdict was announced that huguely crossed himself and apparently, that was the only emotion that came from him? how about other members of the family, either his fam loitily e victim's family? >> his back was turned a bit away from us. he was -- even though especihe positioned on the side you can he is angled toward the jury so we couldn't see his face you

that crossing is all we could see. the other family members, his stepfather was there, his up at was there, many of his cousins on his side of the courtroom, they were all dry-identify as far as could i see and then looking over on the other side of the courtroom in the front low voe yeardley love's sister, lex circumstance mother, sharon love, her aunt and lexie's fiance, and the all of them did into the show a lot of emotion the judge cautioned everybody ahead of time he would not abide any outbursts, think everyone was trying to go along with the judge's instructions. >> talk if you will about the schedule, you said the jury deliberated nine hours. they are taking a break now before they go back to talk about sentencing? >> not so much a break for the jury as it is a break to asell belt witnesses that are now going to come to take the stand at this sentencing hearing. they are taking a brief break this morning they discussed as long as 30 minutes, i don't think it is going to take this long. the witnesses have been on stand by we have seen come some in the area today.

i this thank you sentencing hearing will commence fairly soon. >> who do we expect will be speaking tonight, julie, in that sentencing hearing? you talked about family members. do we know who? >> right. for the prosecution, i wouldn't be surprised that we would hear again from sharon love, yeardley love's mother, lexie love, they have all been most impacted by the loss of yeardley love. we know that on the defense side that george huguely's mother and father have been waiting in the wings so likely hear from them. there may be some other witnesses that can be character references for him, people who have known him throughout his life and depending how that goes, the prosecution also has rebuttal witnesses that it can call so that if it's felt that the defense puts on, you know, a portrayal of george humely that shows him in a light that the prosecution doesn't believe is accurate, they can actually call some other witnesses to contradict that defense testimony. so there could be some others in

law enforcement brought forward on that side. >> after several weeks of trial, julie, very possible that this will reach a conclusion tonight, isn't it? >> it is very possible it could reach a conclusion. the other thing to remember about this case though, even though a sentencing decision would bring some closure from the start because of the scope of this trial and because of this high profile defendant, former uva lacrosse player from a wealthy montgomery county family, there has been talk all along of an appeal. so it is certainly likely this case will not truly be over for maybe even years to come. >> julie carey, we thank you. very nice job down there in charlottesville. we appreciate it. to wrap up here again, george huguely has been convicted of second degree murder in the death of his former girlfriend, ms. yardly. also convicted of grand larceny, six charges against him in all but