The slaying of a Washington intern that dominated national headlines before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will finally come to trial this week.
Jury selection in the murder trial of 24-year-old Chandra Levy begins Monday in D.C. Superior Court, but the choosing of the jurors could take three or more days because of the case’s notoriety, the length of the trial, and the long list of questions that potential jurors are expected to answer, including their views about tattoos, gangs and illegal immigrants.
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Ingmar Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador and a member of MS-13, faces life in prison if convicted in the case.
Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joseph diGenova said it will not be an easy case for the prosecution because of the botched police work in the beginning of the investigation.
“It’s one of those cases that has stuck in my craw,” diGenova said.
Guandique, 29, has been serving time in a California prison for attacking two other women in Rock Creek Park not far from where Levy’s body was found on May 22, 2002.
Levy was at the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared from her Dupont Circle apartment in May 2001.
At the time, detectives focused on then-Rep. Gary A. Condit, D-Calif., after it was revealed he had been having an affair with Levy. But they ignored Guandique, who was arrested and charged two months after Levy’s disappearance with an assault against a woman in Rock Creek Park, where evidence placed Levy as being before her disappearance.
During the search for Levy’s body, police officers misinterpreted the orders on which areas to search. Her remains were found a year later in Rock Creek Park by a man walking his dog. A medical examiner was not able to determine the manner or cause of death.
Police eliminated Conduit as a suspect and said they were interested in Guandique and gave him a polygraph test. The lie detector said Guandique was not being deceptive when he said he was not involved with her disappearance. Police didn’t have enough evidence to file charges.
The long-dormant case took a turn in 2007, after D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier met with Levy’s parents and assigned a new team of detectives and prosecutors. Last year, they became convinced that they had accumulated sufficient evidence to file charges.
Because of the decomposition of Levy’s body, there is no DNA evidence.
Prosecutors will rely on jailhouse informants, and Guandique’s record of attacking women in Rock Creek Park. One informant claimed Guandique boasted that and two gang members raped and stabbed an Italian-looking woman with thick curly hair. Two other witnesses talked about the killing but gave differing accounts.
