Prosecutors In Levy Case Overcame Long Odds
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The prosecutors who obtained a first-degree murder conviction this week in the Chandra Levy murder trial readily acknowledged the holes in their case.
No DNA evidence. No eyewitnesses. And a police investigation that initially focused relentlessly not on defendant Ingmar Guandique but on former Congressman Gary Condit.
But legal observers say the prosecution overcame those flaws with emotionally gripping testimony from two women who survived assaults against them by Guandique.
Analysts say the testimony from the two women in the trial's opening days set a tone that defense attorneys ultimately could not overcome.
Guandique was convicted Monday in Levy's 2001 disappearance and death, bringing resolution to one of the nation's most sensational murder mysteries.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
