|
Wrongly Convicted Database Record
|
Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
60 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
6 |
Year Crime: |
2002 |
Year Convicted: |
2010 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
District of Columbia |
County or Region of Crime: |
District of Columbia |
City of Crime: |
District of Columbia |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Ingmar Guandique was wrongly convicted on Nov. 22, 2010 of first-degree murder in federal court of the murder of Chandra Levy who was 24 when she disappeared on May 1, 2001 while jogging in Washington's D.C.'s Rock Creek Park. Levy's skeletal remains were discovered in 2002 in Rock Creek Park. Guandique was a Salvadoran immigrant whose prosecution was based on the testimony of jailhouse informant Armando Morales, that when they were cellmates in 2006 Guandique confessed to killing Levy during an attempted robbery and kidnapping. There was no physical, DNA, or eyewitness, or confession evidence linking Guandique to the crime, so Morales' testimony was the lynchpin of the prosecution's case. The prosecution also relied on the bad character evidence that in 2001 Guandique assaulted two women in separate attacks in Rock Creek Park, for which he was convicted. After his conviction by a jury the 29-year-old Guandique was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Guandique's conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. In 2013 Guandique filed a motion for a new trial based on new evidence that Morales' testimony was false and unreliable because he committed perjury when he denid he had previously cooperated with law enforcement as an informant in other cases, and the prosecution failed to disclose to Guandique's lawyers Morales' association as a law enformcement informant, or inform the judge, Guandique's trial lawyers, and the jury, when Morales' testified during the trial, that his testimony was false. The prosecution vigorously opposed Guandique's motion, but in the interest of justice on May 22, 2015 it dropped its opposition to Guandique's retiral. On June 4, 2015 D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher — who presided over Guandique’s 2010 trial and sentenced him to 60 years in prison — set aside Guandique’s conviction and ordered a new trial, which would be presided over by a different judge. The prosecution stated it would retry Guandique. However, with Morales' credibility fatally undercut, in July 2016 the prosecution reversed course, and its motion to dismiss the charges based on insufficient evidence to prove Guandique guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, was granted on July 28, 2016. Levy was an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared, and police investigators first suspected and then cleared Gary A. Condit, a married California congressman 30 years older than Levy, who was having an affair with Levy." |
Conviction Caused By: |
"Perjury by the prosecution's star witness, a jailhouse informant." |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 4, 2015 D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher — who presided over Ingmar Guandique’s 2010 trial and sentenced him to 60 years in prison — set aside Guandique’s conviction and ordered a new trial, which would be presided over by a different judge. The prosecution stated it would retry Guandique, but in July 2016 it reversed course, and its motion to dismiss the charges based on insufficient evidence to prove Guandique guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, was granted on July 28, 2016. " |
Defendant Aided By: |
|
Compensation Awarded: |
|
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
|
Age When Imprisoned: |
29 |
Age When Released: |
35 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Hispanic |
Information Source 1: |
"Chandra Levy murder mystery deepens as prosecutors drop case, By Michael Doyle, Miami Herald, July 28, 2016" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article92378417.html#0 |
Information Source 2: |
"Jury convicts immigrant in Chandra Levy killing, By Michael Doyle (Sun-Star Washington Bureau), Merced Sun-Star, Nov. 22, 2010" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/crime/article3256864.html |
Information Source 3: |
"D.C. judge grants retrial in 2001 killing of intern Chandra Levy, By Spencer S. Hsu (Staff reporter), The Washington Post, June 4, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/dc-judge-grants-re-trial-in-2001-killing-of-intern-chandra-levy/2015/06/04/0a282286-09fd-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html |
Information Source 4: |
|
Information Location 4: |
|
Information Source 5: |
|
Information Location 5: |
|
Book About Case: |
|
Book Information: |
|
Book About Case (2): |
|
Book Information (2): |
|
Movie About Case: |
|
Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org