The Gary Condit and Chandra Levy Controversy: Will The Rot Go Scott Free?

The Gary Condit and Chandra Levy Controversy still rages on with courts having imposed a gag order and public speculations rife about who's being the fall guy - Condit who lost his political career over the controversy or the Hispanic accused, who is supposedly being charged largely on hearsay evidence.

The murder case went to the jury on November 16, 2010, and we are awaiting its results. By and large, the story against the murder suspect, Guandique, definitely looks concocted, while the conduct of Gary Condit during the investigation, as also the fact that sperm matching Gary Condit's DNA was found on Chandra Levy's underwear keep speculations alive.

The Gary Condit and Chandra Levy controversy has also been escalated by the fact that Gary was not an accused in the Chandra Levy case, while Guandique, who's DNA was not found on any item of Chandra Levy, has been accused as the murderer. Guandique has been charged for the murder without any eyewitness, or murder weapon, and only based upon the hearsay evidence of another five times convicted criminal, who says Guandique told him of having committed the murder. However, the assertion was denied categorically by Guandique in court, and also denied by other witnesses who were cellmates of Guandique at the time when the witness claims Guandique confessed his crime.



The Holes in the Prosecution's Story in the Chandra Levy Case

The Gary Condit and Chandra Levy controversy rages on as the defense attorney in the case, Sonenberg, has been cited as stating that Condit acted like a ''guilty man'' and received ''special treatment'' with the authorities having ruled out Gary as a suspect. Points strengthening this note include:

• Condit primarily refused to admit the adulterous relationship with Chandra when questioned twice by the police
• Condit refused to submit to a polygraph test
• Even though Condit was asked thrice at the trial whether he had an intimate relationship with Levy, he refused to provide any conclusive answer
• An FBI biologist testified before the court that Levy's underwear contained sperm matching Condit's DNA
• Even though Condit may be the only person who could have clearly profited from the death of Chandra Levy, he was removed from the list of suspects by the authorities

On the other hand, the holes in the prosecution's story, as pointed out by the defense, are big enough to fail even at the stage of establishing prima facie evidence in most civilized countries.

It makes the task of the jury a difficult one, and it can be safely said that the only outcome of this entire fiasco would be to declare the wrongly accused as not guilty, and those who were never accused, as never guilty by default.
Points to consider include:

• Though the police had thoroughly searched Rock Creek Park after complaints lodged by the relatives of Chandra Levy, they left out searching the spot in Rock Creek Park where Levy's body was later found, apparently due to its remoteness
• Chandra Levy's remains were found one year after she went missing, quite accidentally by a man walking his dog and looking for turtles - that the remains were at all found was only by chance
• Police accused Guandique based on his history of assaulting women in the same park, but without any definitive evidence to connect him to the crime beyond reasonable doubt
• Out of two polygraph tests conducted on the accused by the FBI, the accused failed one, while the results of the next polygraph were inconclusive
• Guandique was charged upon the basis of the statement of a prison cell mate who came forth after news of Guandique being charged for the murder were in the media
• Both Guandique and other cell mates have denied the assertion of the government witness who used to share a prison cell with the accused
• No eyewitness
• No murder weapon
• No DNA evidence to connect the accused to the murder though the DNA of other people were existent and found on the victims items and remains
• There was no definitive cause of death established by the medical examiner

This is a pretty challenging case for the jury as the prosecutors have failed to prove anything beyond reasonable doubt except the case for a doubt.

The complicated situation that has risen and can affect justice and equity include admissions of Gary Condit and Chandra Levy, as well as laxity of the law enforcement system. It took eight years to issue the first arrest warrant against the suspected murderer who was a prison inmate, and then again, it is clear that the warrant was largely made on assumptions and presumptions - things that will hardly stand up against a fair trial and a fair jury. But whatever happens, once the case is decided, we hope it will shed more light on the Gary Condit and Chandra Levy controversy.