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Summary: The accused intern Chandra Levy killer will be sent back to his home country of El Salvador after prosecutors have determined they cannot proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the murder.
Over 15 years ago, intern Chandra Levy went missing. Her body was found a year later decomposed in a Washington park. In 2010, undocumented immigrant Ingmar Guandique was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing Levy. Prosecutors announced today that they were dropping the charges against the El Salvador national after “unforeseen development” arose. Levy’s murder remains one of the country’s most infamous unsolved crimes.
Read ACLU Files Class-Action in Southern California on Behalf of Immigrants.
Guandique was granted a new trial after prosecutors admitted to withholding evidence about the main witness. Due to the new evidence being introduced to the case, the United States attorney’s office decided to drop the charges, citing: “Today, in the interests of justice and based on recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week, the office moved to dismiss the case charging Ingmar Guandique with the May 2001 murder of Chandra Levy. The office has concluded that it can no longer prove the murder against Mr. Guandique beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Levy was interning at the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she went missing on May 1, 2001. Extensive searches were conducted but nothing was found until over a year after her disappearance. A man walking his dog in the park came across her remains but there was little usable evidence due to the level of decomposition and exposure to the elements.
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See 15-year-old Texan Charged with Murder of 9 Illegal Immigrants.
It was then revealed that Levy was in a relationship with Rep. Gary Condit, a married Democrat from California. An investigation was held but cleared him of any involvement in the murder.
The witness in the case against Guandique was his prison inmate, Armando Morales. Guandique plead guilty to assaulting two other women in the same park after he was considered a suspect. He still was not charged until 2009 with her murder when Morales came forward with the tip that Guandique confessed to killing her.
Guandique will be given to immigration authorities for deporation.
Do you think the testimony from a fellow inmate should be enough for a conviction? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about illegal immigrants, read Hundreds of Illegal Immigrants Released by Homeland Security: Checkmate to Fiscal Cliff Stalemate?
Photo: radaronline.com
