07-29-2016, 02:00 PM
Chandra Levy Case -- Murder Conviction Overturned
I feel so badly for the Levy family. Once again, they're left wondering what really happened to Chandra and who's responsible.
![[Image: chandra-levy-320.jpg]](http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2010/news/101206/chandra-levy-320.jpg)
![[Image: gcondit2.jpg]](http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2005/news/050124/gcondit2.jpg)
The 2001 disappearance of the 24-year-old Levy (center) created a national sensation after the Modesto, California, native who was in Washington as an intern for the Bureau of Prisons was romantically linked with then-Congressman Gary Condit (right). The California Democrat was at one point a prime suspect in the investigation, police acknowledged. Condit's political career was destroyed.
Eventually, police cleared Condit and in 2009 charged Ingmar Guandique (left) with Levy's murder. Guandique had already been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacks on female joggers in Rock Creek Park, and prosecutors argued Levy's death fit the pattern of those attacks. He was found guilty in 2010 and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
But Guandique was granted a new trial last year after doubts were raised about jailhouse informant Armando Morales, the key witness at Guandique's trial. Morales testified that Guandique confessed to the killing.Defense lawyers have argued that Morales lied during the trial and that prosecutors knew or should have known the testimony was problematic.
"It is now clear that the jailhouse informant, who was central to the government's case, was a perjurer who too easily manipulated the prosecutors," Guandique's lawyers said in their statement Thursday. Had the retrial moved forward, his lawyers also put together a case pointing the finger back at Gary Condit as the murderer. They planned to present witnesses who had been involved with Condit sexually and who claimed he was overly aggressive and could be scary with bondage and such.
The U.S. Attorney's office said the charges were dropped "based on recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week." Guandique will be turned over to ICE for likely deportation to El Salvador. The U.S. Attorney's office did not provide details or indicate if they were now focusing on a different suspect.
Ref: ://www.cbsnews.com/news/chandra-levy-mother-in-shock-murder-case-dropped-ingmar-guandique/
I feel so badly for the Levy family. Once again, they're left wondering what really happened to Chandra and who's responsible.
The 2001 disappearance of the 24-year-old Levy (center) created a national sensation after the Modesto, California, native who was in Washington as an intern for the Bureau of Prisons was romantically linked with then-Congressman Gary Condit (right). The California Democrat was at one point a prime suspect in the investigation, police acknowledged. Condit's political career was destroyed.
Eventually, police cleared Condit and in 2009 charged Ingmar Guandique (left) with Levy's murder. Guandique had already been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacks on female joggers in Rock Creek Park, and prosecutors argued Levy's death fit the pattern of those attacks. He was found guilty in 2010 and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
But Guandique was granted a new trial last year after doubts were raised about jailhouse informant Armando Morales, the key witness at Guandique's trial. Morales testified that Guandique confessed to the killing.Defense lawyers have argued that Morales lied during the trial and that prosecutors knew or should have known the testimony was problematic.
"It is now clear that the jailhouse informant, who was central to the government's case, was a perjurer who too easily manipulated the prosecutors," Guandique's lawyers said in their statement Thursday. Had the retrial moved forward, his lawyers also put together a case pointing the finger back at Gary Condit as the murderer. They planned to present witnesses who had been involved with Condit sexually and who claimed he was overly aggressive and could be scary with bondage and such.
The U.S. Attorney's office said the charges were dropped "based on recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week." Guandique will be turned over to ICE for likely deportation to El Salvador. The U.S. Attorney's office did not provide details or indicate if they were now focusing on a different suspect.
Ref: ://www.cbsnews.com/news/chandra-levy-mother-in-shock-murder-case-dropped-ingmar-guandique/