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Chandra Levy’s Killer Sentenced to 60 Years
By SABRINA TAVERNISEFEB. 11, 2011
www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12levy.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — The man convicted of killing Chandra Levy — a 24-year-old government intern whose relationship with Gary A. Condit, a California congressman, made the murder case a national news sensation — was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison.
Judge Gerald I. Fisher of District of Columbia Superior Court chose not to impose the harshest sentence available, life in prison, on the defendant, Ingmar Guandique, 29, who was convicted in November of Ms. Levy’s murder. Ms. Levy disappeared in 2001, and her remains were found in Rock Creek Park here a year later.
The judge said he believed that Mr. Guandique was dangerous to society, particularly to women, and sentenced him to 60 years, double the minimum required.
“I think he is essentially a sexual predator,” Judge Fisher said. “The question is whether I conclude that he’s the worst of all the worst. I come close to that conclusion, but I don’t quite reach it.”
The case became one of the highest-profile unsolved murders in this city’s history, in part because it involved Mr. Condit, a Democrat representing California’s 18th Congressional District. Investigators later concluded that Mr. Condit, who was married at the time of Ms. Levy’s disappearance in May 2001, had not played any role in her murder, but the negative publicity ended his political career.
It was eventually categorized as a cold case with no leads. But in 2009, investigators charged Mr. Guandique, who was serving time for attacks on other women that had occurred in the same park around the time Ms. Levy disappeared.
Prosecutors faced a challenge in convincing a jury that he was guilty. They had neither witnesses, nor any DNA evidence linking Mr. Guandique to the crime. At the trial, they relied on an inmate who had served time with Mr. Guandique. The inmate, who defense lawyers said was unreliable, testified that Mr. Guandique had confessed to killing Ms. Levy.
On Nov. 22, a jury convicted Mr. Guandique of first-degree murder, a decision that Mr. Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, continued to dispute during his sentencing on Friday.
“I am very sorry for what happened to your daughter,” he said in Spanish to Susan Levy, Ms. Levy’s mother. “But I had nothing to do with it. I am innocent.”
Mrs. Levy read her own statement before Judge Fisher issued the sentence, calling Mr. Guandique a “hideous creature,” and telling him he was “lower than a cockroach.” Her husband, she said, was a Holocaust survivor, and had been forced to relive the suffering of that experience as a result of Mr. Guandique’s actions. In a final expression of contempt, she ended her speech with an expletive.
During her remarks, she confronted him over the murder.
"I ask you that right now, did you really take her?” she said. “Look into my eyes right now and tell me.”
Again, Mr. Guandique protested, silently shaking his head no in response. He has 30 days to file an appeal, Judge Fisher said.
Mr. Guandique will be eligible for time off from his 60-year sentence if he maintains a clean record of behavior in prison. At most, he could reduce his sentence by about 15 percent, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
A version of this article appears in print on February 12, 2011, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Chandra Levy’s Killer Gets 60 Years for Murder, Ending Case That Chilled Capital. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Levy#Identification_of_the_prime_suspect
Identification of the prime suspect
In September 2001, D.C. police and federal prosecutors were contacted by the lawyer of an informant, held in a D.C. jail, who claimed to have knowledge of Levy's killer. The informant, whose identity was protected for his safety, said that Ingmar Guandique, a 20-year-old Salvadoran also being held in the jail, told him that Condit paid him $25,000 to kill Levy. Investigators ruled out the story about Condit, because Guandique had already admitted to assaulting two other women in the same park where Levy's remains were found.[17] Guandique also failed to show up for work on the day of Levy's disappearance.[31] His former landlady recalled that his face became scratched and bruised at around that time.[32] However, the investigators on the Levy case did not interview the other Rock Creek Park victims.[33] Police chief Ramsey avoided calling Guandique a suspect and described him as a "person of interest",[34] telling reporters not to make "too big a deal" about him. Assistant chief Terrance W. Gainer said that if Guandique had been considered a suspect, D.C. police would have been after him "like flies on honey."[32]
Guandique denied attacking Levy.[36] On November 28, the FBI had the informant take a polygraph test, which he failed. A polygraph test on Guandique, administered on February 4, 2002, returned inconclusive results that were officially ruled "not deceptive". Because the informant and Guandique both spoke little English, D.C. chief detective Jack Barrett said that he would have preferred polygraph tests administered by bilingual examiners, who were unavailable at the time.[17] When Judge Noel Anketell Kramer was asked about Guandique's potential connection to the Levy homicide, she responded, "This is such a satellite issue. To me it doesn't have anything to do with this case." Kramer sentenced Guandique to 10 years in prison for his other attacks at Rock Creek Park.[32] Guandique was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary, Big Sandy near Inez, Kentucky,[37] and was later transferred to the U.S. Penitentiary at Victorville, California.[35]
The Levy homicide remained listed as a "cold case" until 2006, when Cathy L. Lanier succeeded Ramsey as D.C. police chief. Lanier replaced the lead detective on the case with three veteran investigators who had more homicide experience.[33] In 2007, the editors of the Washington Post assigned a new team of reporters to take a year to re-examine the Levy case.[32] The resulting series of articles, published during the summer of 2008, focused on the past failure of the police to fully investigate Guandique's connection to the attacks in Rock Creek Park. In September 2008, investigators searched Guandique's federal prison cell in California and found a photo of Levy that he had saved from a magazine. Police interviewed acquaintances of Guandique and witnesses of the other Rock Creek Park incidents.[33] On March 3, 2009, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia issued an arrest warrant for Guandique.[38] He was returned to the custody of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections on April 20 via the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.[39] Two days later, Guandique was charged in D.C. with Levy's murder.[40] He was indicted by a grand jury on six counts: kidnapping, first degree murder committed during a kidnapping, attempted first degree sexual abuse, first degree murder committed during a sexual offense, attempted robbery, and first degree murder committed during a robbery.[41] Guandique pled not guilty at his arraignment, where a trial date was initially set for January 27, 2010.[42] His lawyers argued that Guandique's federal prison cell was outside the jurisdiction of a court-ordered search.[43] However, after errors in processing contaminated some of the gathered evidence with DNA from employees of the prosecution,[44] the start date of the trial at the Moultrie Courthouse was moved to October 4, 2010.[43]
Trial of Guandique
On October 18, 2010, jury selection commenced in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before Judge Gerald I. Fisher. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez presented the names of potential witnesses for the trial, including FBI agent Brad Garrett and the two women whom Guandique was convicted of assaulting. At the start of the trial, the prosecution's case was expected to take around four weeks and the defense was expected to take one day.[45] On October 25 and 26, Halle Shilling and Christy Wiegand testified about being attacked by Guandique while jogging in Rock Creek Park. Wiegand recounted that Guandique grabbed her from behind, dragged her down a ravine and held a knife against her face.[46]
On October 26, 2010, Levy's then-64-year-old father, Robert, took the stand and refuted statements about his past suspicions of Condit. Robert Levy testified that he told authorities during the early years of the investigation that his daughter Chandra would have been too cautious to jog in the woods alone, but stated that he no longer believed this to be true. He said that he also told police that his daughter and Condit had a five-year plan between them to get married. In retrospect, Robert Levy admitted: "I just said whatever came to mind just to point to him as the villain." Robert Levy added that he had been convinced that Condit was “guilty until we learned about this character here”, referring to Guandique.[47] On November 1, Condit testified at the trial and was asked on at least three occasions if he and Chandra Levy had been involved in a sexual relationship. He replied, "I am not going to respond to that question out of privacy for myself and Chandra."[48] FBI biologist Alan Giusti testified that semen found on underwear from Levy's apartment contained sperm matching Condit's DNA profile.[49]
Prosecution witness Armando Morales, who shared a cell with Guandique at the U.S. Penitentiary in Kentucky, testified that Guandique was concerned about being transferred between prisons in 2006 because of inmate violence against suspected rapists. Morales stated that Guandique, a fellow member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, confided to him that he had killed Levy while trying to rob her, but said that he did not rape her.[50][51] The prosecution rested their case on November 10,[52] while dropping two out of the six charges against Guandique: sexual assault and murder associated with that assault.[53] On November 15, the defense rested its case without calling Guandique to the stand. Other prison witnesses called by the defense refuted Morales' testimony. Jose Manuel Alaniz said that Guandique made no mention of rape or murder while sharing a cell with both Alaniz and Morales at the penitentiary in Kentucky. However, Alaniz admitted under cross-examination that he "didn't want to be too nosy" and was often asleep at the prison while recovering from a gunshot wound. The prosecution dropped two more charges because the statute of limitations had passed: kidnapping and attempted robbery. During closing arguments for the remaining charges of first degree murder committed during a kidnapping and during a robbery,[50] prosecutor Amanda Haines contended that Guandique bound and gagged Levy after attacking her, leaving her to die of dehydration or exposure in the park. Defense attorney Santha Sonenberg countered with the lack of any DNA evidence connecting Guandique to the crime scene.[54] Calling the prosecution's case "fiction", Sonenberg suggested that Levy had been murdered elsewhere, with her dead body being dumped in the park.[55]
The jury began deliberations on November 17, 2010.[55] Scheduled proceedings of the case met delays because of increased security at the courthouse.[56] After two days of deliberations, all but one juror had voted to convict Guandique.[57] On the third day, the jury asked Judge Gerald Fisher to clarify the definition of assault.[58] Fisher responded that any physical injury could legally be considered an assault, regardless of how small.[59] On November 22, 2010, the jury found Guandique guilty of both remaining counts of first degree murder.[60] After the trial, a juror said the testimony of Morales was decisive in reaching the verdict.[61] The conviction was called a "miracle" for having been reached with only circumstantial evidence.[62] Gladys Weatherspoon, who had previously represented Guandique in the 2001 assault cases, stated that she was troubled by the jury's verdict: "I just think they were going to convict anyway.... They felt bad for that woman, the mom. She's sitting in there every day."[61] At a post-trial press conference, Susan Levy said, "There's always going to be a feeling of sadness. I can surely tell you, it ain't closure."[63] Since the conclusion of the trial, Susan Levy has moved to keep photographic evidence of her daughter's remains sealed from the news media.[64]
Sentencing and appeals
On February 1, 2011, Guandique's attorneys requested a new trial on the grounds that the verdict had been improperly attained. The 17-page filing claimed that the prosecutors had appealed to the emotions of the jury, using "references to facts not in evidence."[65] The motion also alleged that one juror, who did not take notes, had breached the judge's instructions not to be "influenced by another juror's notes."[65] The prosecution opposed a retrial, arguing that the issue regarding the notes was no more than a technicality that did not have a significant effect on the verdict.[66]
Guandique faced a minimum penalty of 30 years to a maximum of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.[60][67] In seeking the maximum possible sentence, the prosecutors stated that Guandique "is unable to control himself and thus, will always remain a danger to women."[66] A memo submitted by the prosecution in February 2011 cited Guandique's harassment of female staff in prison, including soliciting a nurse and masturbating in front of guards.[66] Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez disclosed that he had traveled to El Salvador with a detective to investigate allegations that Guandique had fled his native country because of suspected attacks against local women dating back to 1999.[68] During the sentencing hearing on February 11, Guandique said to Levy's family, "I am sorry for what happened to your daughter," and insisted on his innocence. Before Judge Gerald Fisher reminded her to address the court instead of the defendant, Susan Levy responded directly: "Did you really take her life? Look me in my eyes and tell me." Fisher denied Guandique's motion for retrial and handed down a sentence of 60 years in prison, stating that Guandique "will be a danger for some time. He's a sexual predator."[69]
However, Guandique stated that he was innocent during his sentencing. He maintained his innocence in the years after the case.[70]
On February 25, 2011, public defender James Klein filed an appeal of Guandique's conviction with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. According to the court's annual report, appeals take an average of 588 days to reach resolution.[71] Guandique will not be eligible for parole until he is at least 80 years old.[72] In December 2012 and January 2013, a set of secret hearings was made known to the public, but the subject of the meetings was sealed by the judge.[70][73][74] After a third hearing in February, the judge in the case unsealed transcripts from the previous hearings which revealed that Klein was seeking a new trial based on new evidence in the case.[75] A fourth hearing was scheduled for April.[75]
On May 22, 2015, prosecutors dropped their opposition to a new trial.[76] On June 3, 2015, the defense said a new witness, a neighbor, called 911 at 4:37 a.m. on the last day Levy was alive to report hearing a 'blood-curdling scream', possibly coming from Levy's appartment.[77] On June 4, 2015, Judge Gerald Fisher granted a motion for the new trial.[78]