News

‘Killer’ of Jewish Intern Chandra Levy Should Be Freed If Cleared: Father

Image by wikipedia

By Forward Staff January 26, 2013

The father of Chandra Levy reportedly says the man convicted of killing his congressional intern daughter a decade ago should be set free if new evidence exonerates him.

Image by wikipedia

As reports swirl about possible new evidence in the sensational case, Robert Levy, told a San Francisco TV station that convicted killer Inmar Guandique must not be imprisoned if someone else killed his daughter.

“If he’s innocent of murder, he shouldn’t be in jail for it,” Robert Levy said.

Levy’s body was discovered in a Washington, D.C. park a year after her 2001 disappearance, which captivated the nation. An intern at the U.S. congress, she was revealed to have been having an affair with then-congressman Gary Condit.

An immigrant from El Salvador, Guandique was convicted of Levy’s murder in 2010 after a trial in which the main evidence was testimony from a fellow prison inmate who said Guandique confessed to killing Levy.

There was no physical evidence linking Guandique to the crime scene or any testimony that he knew her. He was linked to several other attacks on joggers in Rock Creek Park, the leafy enclave where Chandra Levy’s remains were found.

Guandique’s attorneys have been meeting secretly with prosecutors and a federal judge in recent weeks, according to the AP.

“It’s all secret,” Chandra Levy’s father Robert Levy told Fox News said of the meetings between federal prosecutors and defense lawyers. “No one is allowed in there. It’s about some witness.”

Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher said the secrecy regarding the trial is for “safety concerns,” but refused to elaborate.

Media groups are pressing for a court order to have the hearings held in public. Such hearings are only held behind closed doors in extremely rare circumstances.

Guandique was sentenced in 2011 to 60 years in prison for the murder of Levy, who was 24 when she disappeared. Guandique is scheduled to appear at a court hearing on his appeal of his sentence on Feb. 7.

Condit disappeared from public life after losing his congressional primary in 2002. He was never named a suspect in Levy’s death. He has run ice cream stores and written a book since leaving public life. His son, Chad Condit, ran unsuccessfully for congress in 2012.

The Forward’s staff contributors are listed in our masthead.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO