Breaking: Conviction in Chandra Levy Trial
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]
Ingmar Guandique has been convicted of murdering Chandra Levy. You might remember that the world was obsessed with her disappearance in the summer of 2001. You can read the details, here.
And this seems at good at time as any to say that if Gary Condit is listening, I honestly believed you had a high probability of being involved in her murder. And for that I sincerely apologize. I don’t apologize for thinking you were sleeping with her, given that it is apparently true. But I do apologize for thinking you were likely to be involved in her murder.
And to the Levy family, I hope you can find peace.
Update: Michelle Malkin correctly notes an immigration angle to all of this.
Update (II): Tag teaming me in the comments DRJ and Jack S bring up some uncomfortable facts suggesting maybe I was being too kind on Condit, especially with this transcript of this classic interview with Connie Chung. Wholly apart from the merits of this case, lawyers should read this interview as a classic example of how to impeach a witness on cross examination. Really say what you will about the fall from grace of Connie Chung, but she did a great job with this one.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
Ugh. No forensic evidence. Just a jailhouse confession to a cellmate, and some priors of a similar nature.
I hate to see convictions like this, but it may be the closest we get to a “just” resolution.
Kman (d30fc3) — 11/22/2010 @ 10:49 amThis is going to be one of those convictions that will leave everyone asking the question: are we really sure he is guilty? Really haunting…
The Emperor (0969e8) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:09 amAt the time her disappearance was the big news along with stem cell legislation…9-11 pushed all that away forever.
VOR2 (c9795e) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:17 amthis story is just begging to be made into a musical
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:18 amTaiwanese animators in 3…2…1
daleyrocks (940075) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:29 amIs anyone else bothered by this propensity for prosecutors using snitches? Isn’t this hearsay – at best? You’re taking the word of another criminal as hard evidence of someone’s guilt.
This guy was evidently convicted on the word of a this guy and nothing much else? I can’t say if I was a parent or other relative I’d be very happy. Did they get the right guy?
As for Gary Condit, I am so saddened by the loss of his Congressional career I lose sleep every night over it. Really.
JEA (2a1ff2) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:32 amDaley
for that and bristol palin on DWTS! lol
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:41 amWhat reason was there to think Condit had anything to do with her murder? Were you watching murder mystery TV shows where the killer is always either a CEO of some evil company or some (semi) powerful person who’s trying to cover up his affairs?
I don’t know of a real case where a Washington politician has killed to cover up his infidelity… and heavens knows, there have been plenty of them.
steve (369bc6) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:42 amThere was some odd behavior on his part but there was also amazing incompetence by the Washington police. No surprise after seeing the chief on TV during the sniper case. He was obviously trying to cover up his affair with her but that was not a good idea.
Mike K (568408) — 11/22/2010 @ 11:57 amhow about mentioning the fact that this guy is apparently an illegal and a gang member?
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 11/22/2010 @ 12:01 pmCome on, Red, that just interferes with the narrative
narciso (82637e) — 11/22/2010 @ 12:05 pmRight, ’cause if they did, there would be no women left in DC!
As for Red, yeah, why no race baiting, Aaron? Red knows if the guy is an illegal and a gang member he had to be guilty of THIS crime. It’s very important that we establish we don’t like the accused before we use to words of another felon AND his prior bad acts to prejudice a jury.
timb (449046) — 11/22/2010 @ 12:10 pmtimb
i didn’t realize that “illegal alien” and “gang banger” was a race.
[quotes added for clarity after the fact. –Aaron]
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 11/22/2010 @ 12:30 pmLet’s all take a moment, and remember that Ingmar Guandique and Gary Condit are victims, too. My heart and thoughts go out to them, as well as the surviving members of the Levy family./sarc off
TimesDisliker (505854) — 11/22/2010 @ 12:31 pmCondit was/is a victim. Just because he was a cheating jerk doesn’t mean he should have been looked at as having had something to do with her disappearance/death.
steve (369bc6) — 11/22/2010 @ 1:42 pmHey, it was fine for everyone to speculate that Condit was part of some motorcycle gang which he used to shut Ms Levy up.
timbert (4a4246) — 11/22/2010 @ 1:46 pmGuess he, Condit now knows that cheating can be costly.. 😉 ok, I kid, I kid!!
The Emperor (2eeddb) — 11/22/2010 @ 1:47 pmI too would like to apologize to Gary Condit, when he was caught under video surveillance dumping some of her personal belongings in a garbage can a couple of towns away I jumped to the mistaken conclusion that he had murdered her, instead he was just guilty of covering up any connections he had to her while wasting the Cops time and manpower.
oops I’m sorry, I take my apology back…
jack s (98b2b8) — 11/22/2010 @ 2:36 pmAt the time of her disappearance thousands of people searched all of the parks and many oyher places and then a year later someone stumbles over her. Is it not likely that her body was hidden some where else and then dumped.That nobody found her where she eventually showed up for a year is not believable.
dunce (b89258) — 11/22/2010 @ 2:46 pmI blame BUSH, FTW!
wiff (be8ef2) — 11/22/2010 @ 2:50 pmjack s
i don’t remember hearing that. if you have a link it would be appreciated.
Aaron Worthing (b8e056) — 11/22/2010 @ 4:06 pmRead this, Aaron.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 11/22/2010 @ 4:40 pmThanks DRJ…. that transcript covered it all…. it may not have been video surveillance, but it sure was a Detective/PI that followed Condit and pulled Chandra’s things out afterwards.
jack s (98b2b8) — 11/22/2010 @ 6:16 pmCondit certainly acted suspicious for someone who was totally innocent. He seemed to be more concerned about his career than about Chandra’s safety. Oh, what tangled webs we weave…
PatAZ (9d1bb3) — 11/22/2010 @ 6:53 pmGuilty verdict is a disgrace. Guandique is a dirtbag, a creep, and a criminal. He may even have killed Levy. But he may very well not have, and there is no way any jury should have convicted on the flimsy evidence. This jury had to be weak-kneed. I’d hate to think they found Guandique guilty because he is a gang-banger, because he is Hispanic, because he is an illegal-alien, because he rather looks the part. But it is unthinkable that a jury of thoughtful citizens found him guilty based on the evidence as reported over the years here in DC, which was flimsy and nowhere near proving quilt ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. To not have experienced a reasonable doubt during jury deliberations is to have been very unreasonable and terribly unjust. Read up on this case, on Chiang, Mirzayan, Richard Evonitz, Condit, on the conflicting testimony of cell mates, the shoddy police work, etc., and you’ll have a head full of doubts…
F. Church (428755) — 11/22/2010 @ 7:52 pmWill they use this same jury for Maxinne Waters?
AD-RtR/OS! (22efd4) — 11/22/2010 @ 8:31 pmPlease.
PatAZ
It reminds me of an interesting piece on the Garrison investigation into the assassination of JFK (made famous in oliver stone’s movie). You ever notice how many of the supposed conspirators were gay? Well, its not a coincidence. You see garrison very much hated gay people, and even theorized, stupidly, that the assassination as a “homosexual thrill kill.” The piece revealed that the problem was in 1963, in the south, gay people lived secret lives. So what Garrison saw as evidence of conspiracy was simply a bunch of gay dudes living in the closet. The conspiracy was to keep their gayness secret, not any involvement in the assassination.
The condit thing reminded me of that. in hiding his guilt in relation to the affair, he made himself look guilty of murder.
Aaron Worthing (b8e056) — 11/22/2010 @ 8:45 pmI may be a little late to this thread, but it is really shocking how little evidence is needed for a murder conviction.
Bar Sinister (0d48e6) — 11/23/2010 @ 9:56 am