Charges Dropped Against Man Convicted Of Killing DC Intern Chandra Levy

A judge on Thursday dismissed charges against a man convicted of murdering Washington intern Chandra Levy in 2001, in a sensational case that riveted the US capital and contributed to the downfall of a congressman.

Because of new information received in the past week, prosecutors have concluded they can “no longer prove the murder case” against Ingmar Guandique, the Post said.

Prosecutors have argued in an earlier trial that Levy’s death fit a pattern of attacks that Guandique committed on female joggers.

In the weeks after she disappeared, investigators questioned Condit, who first denied the affair before admitting the relationship.

Levy, a 24-year-old California native, was in Washington working as an intern for the Bureau of Prisons when she was last seen on May 1, 2001.

Ingmar Guandique, 34, had been serving a 60-year sentence after being found guilty in 2010 of murdering Levy. Gary Condit, D-Calif. Condit was later ruled out as a suspect.

But a judge granted his retrial a year ago after his lawyers argued that a jailhouse informant lied or gave misleading information to investigators.

Levy’s disappearance gained national attention after her parents discovered a connection between her and Gary Condit, who was then a congressman for Levy’s California district.

A man walking his dog found Levy’s remains in Rock Creek Park in 2002. A member of Guandique’s public defender’s general counsel, Lauren Hankins, noted: “Finally, the government has had to concede the flaws in its ill-gotten conviction”. Morales testified at trial that Guandique confided in him that he was responsible for Levy’s death. At a January hearing, one of Guandique’s attorneys told a judge that Condit misled the jury with his testimony at the 2010 trial, but he did not elaborate.

“Pending action by the Court, Mr. Guandique will then be released to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he faces removal proceedings”, the statement said.

Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, has been jailed awaiting retrial.