[SIZE=+2]Ingmar Guandique convicted of first-degree murder of former intern Chandra Levy[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] By Keith L. Alexander and Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 22, 2010; 2:47 PM
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Washington Post EXCERPT:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
A D.C. Superior Court jury on Monday found Ingmar Guandique guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of former federal intern Chandra Levy.
The jury of nine women and three men reached its verdict after 3 1/2 days of deliberations.
Chandra Levy's mother, Susan Levy, let out an audible sigh and looked right at Guandique as the verdict was read and the jurors were polled. Two of the jurors seemed to wipe away tears.
Guandique, 29, wearing a blue turtleneck and a gray sweater vest, listened through headphones that translated the verdict into Spanish. He stared straight ahead and had no visible reaction.
But as he was led from the courtroom, he ripped off the headphones and threw them onto the defense table.
Outside the building, Susan Levy and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines, who prosecuted the case, locked in an embrace.
"Thank you," Levy said to Haines. ". . . That was a miracle."
"Miracles happen," Haines replied.
Before the verdict was read, Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher extended his condolences to Susan Levy and others with an interest in the case.
The verdict was a major victory for the U.S. attorney's office in the District.
The Levy case was challenging for the prosecution from the start. There was no forensic evidence linking Guandique to the crime scene, no murder weapon, no eyewitness and no definitive ruling from the medical examiner on what killed Levy. Numerous mistakes by police and forensic scientists further hampered the investigation.
But, at a news conference, the jurors said that there was enough evidence to reach a guilty verdict.
"I don't think that it was particularly difficult," said juror Linda Norton, an interior designer.
The jurors said that they would not discuss their deliberations or individual pieces of evidence. But when asked about the lack of DNA and other science in the case, Norton said: "Well . . . there was a lot of evidence." She said the lengthy deliberation was a direct result of the volume of evidence.
Levy, 24, disappeared May 1, 2001. She was having an affair at the time with Gary A. Condit, the married congressman from her California home town, who was 30 years her senior, and Condit was the first suspect in Levy's disappearance. Levy was in Washington after having completed an internship as part of her master's degree studies at the University of Southern California.
More than a month after her disappearance, police searched Rock Creek Park for any signs of Levy but did not find anything. A year later, while walking his dog through the park, a man found Levy's skull.
<<<SNIP>>>
Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, also had scratches on his face at the time Levy disappeared and gave varying accounts to friends about how he got them, according to testimony.
END EXCERPT
I have two thoughts on this:
1 Gary Condit just breathed a huge sigh of relief.
and
B Illegal immigrants, killing the women Americans won't
[SIZE=-1] By Keith L. Alexander and Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 22, 2010; 2:47 PM
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Washington Post EXCERPT:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
A D.C. Superior Court jury on Monday found Ingmar Guandique guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of former federal intern Chandra Levy.
The jury of nine women and three men reached its verdict after 3 1/2 days of deliberations.
Chandra Levy's mother, Susan Levy, let out an audible sigh and looked right at Guandique as the verdict was read and the jurors were polled. Two of the jurors seemed to wipe away tears.
Guandique, 29, wearing a blue turtleneck and a gray sweater vest, listened through headphones that translated the verdict into Spanish. He stared straight ahead and had no visible reaction.
But as he was led from the courtroom, he ripped off the headphones and threw them onto the defense table.
Outside the building, Susan Levy and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines, who prosecuted the case, locked in an embrace.
"Thank you," Levy said to Haines. ". . . That was a miracle."
"Miracles happen," Haines replied.
Before the verdict was read, Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher extended his condolences to Susan Levy and others with an interest in the case.
The verdict was a major victory for the U.S. attorney's office in the District.
The Levy case was challenging for the prosecution from the start. There was no forensic evidence linking Guandique to the crime scene, no murder weapon, no eyewitness and no definitive ruling from the medical examiner on what killed Levy. Numerous mistakes by police and forensic scientists further hampered the investigation.
But, at a news conference, the jurors said that there was enough evidence to reach a guilty verdict.
"I don't think that it was particularly difficult," said juror Linda Norton, an interior designer.
The jurors said that they would not discuss their deliberations or individual pieces of evidence. But when asked about the lack of DNA and other science in the case, Norton said: "Well . . . there was a lot of evidence." She said the lengthy deliberation was a direct result of the volume of evidence.
Levy, 24, disappeared May 1, 2001. She was having an affair at the time with Gary A. Condit, the married congressman from her California home town, who was 30 years her senior, and Condit was the first suspect in Levy's disappearance. Levy was in Washington after having completed an internship as part of her master's degree studies at the University of Southern California.
More than a month after her disappearance, police searched Rock Creek Park for any signs of Levy but did not find anything. A year later, while walking his dog through the park, a man found Levy's skull.
<<<SNIP>>>
Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, also had scratches on his face at the time Levy disappeared and gave varying accounts to friends about how he got them, according to testimony.
END EXCERPT
I have two thoughts on this:
1 Gary Condit just breathed a huge sigh of relief.
and
B Illegal immigrants, killing the women Americans won't
