Man Awaiting Retrial in Chandra Levy Case Must Remain in Jail: Reports

Ingmar Guandique, granted a retrial after he was convicted and sentenced to prison for the death of intern Chandra Levy, must remain in jail before the new trial next year, The Washington Post reports Tuesday.

Judge Robert E. Morin agreed with prosecutors that Guandique, 34, an immigrant from El Salvador, might flee the area before his retrial in March next year. He also cited unexplained injuries to Guandique at the time of Levy’s disappearance, the newspaper reported.

Guandique was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison five years ago in the death of Levy, who was 24 and an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she went missing 14 years ago on May 1, 2001.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald I. Fisher, who presided over the original trial in 2010, granted the retrial on June 4.

The case was extremely high profile in part because of Levy’s relationship with a married congressman, Gary A. Condit, 30 years her senior. Investigators cleared Condit.

Levy’s remains were found a year later in Rock Creek Park. Guandique pleaded guilty in 2002 to attacking two female joggers at knifepoint in the park and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attacks.

Guandique’s lawyers have been trying for two years to get their client a new trial; they say a jailhouse inmate who served as a key witness had lied.

They also note that evidence of a phone call to 911 by a neighbor of Levy’s on the day of her appearance was never given to his lawyers. The neighbor allegedly said that they heard a “blood-curdling scream” from Levy’s apartment. The defense lawyers heard about the 911 call in December 2012, USA Today reported.

Guandique’s new trial is scheduled for March 1, 2016.