Man Convicted of Murdering Chandra Levy in 2001 to Get a New Trial


A retrial was granted by a federal judge June 4 to continue the case of the man convicted of murdering Chandra Levy.

Ingmar Guandique, who was sentenced in February 2011 to 60 years in prison for the murder of Levy, will be tried before a new judge and jury, it was announced by D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher.

“Unless there is something else to be said, I would grant the motion for a new trial,” Fisher said.

The decision has been anticipated by Guandique’s defense attorneys, who have argued that a false and misleading testimony was given during the 2010 trial by his cellmate Armando Morales. Prosecutors believe the jury was correct for convicting Guandique, but added that the “unique circumstances” of the case makes the request for a retrial hard to oppose.

Levy was a 24-year-old Washington intern, when she disappeared in May 2001. Her remains were found in Rock Creek Park the following year. The case garnered national media attention when Levy was traced to be having an affair with former Rep Gary Condit (D-Calif.) Although investigators initially suspected Condit in Levy’s disappearance, he was later cleared. 

There has been no forensic evidence nor eyewitnesses to link Guandique, 34, to Levy’s murder. However, he has been accused of assaulting other women in Rock Creek Park, and was serving a 10 year prison sentence for assaulting two women at knifepoint at the time he was charged with Levy’s death.
  
The new trial will be presided by D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin, who set a June 12 hearing to schedule the trial for later this year or possibly in 2016.
 

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