Chandra Levy

WASHINGTON — The nine-year march down a tortuous path toward justice for the Chandra Levy family, prosecutors and investigators came down to final arguments today in D.C. Superior Court in the murder trial of an illegal immigrant.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Haines, armed with no physical evidence to speak of, told jurors to use common sense and convict Ingmar Guandique, 29, of murder in Levy’s death .Haines pointed to his history — convictions for two assaults on joggers in Rock Creek Park in Northwest Washington in close proximity to where Levy’s skeletal remains were found one year after her disappearance, according to an account in The Washington Post.

And Haines mentioned the testimony of Guandique’s cellmate, who said Guandique confessed to killing Levy. Guandique pleaded guilty in 2002 to attacking the two joggers and received a 10-year sentence.

“She’s been waiting nine years for justice,” Haines told jurors of Levy. “Just because it’s been nine years coming doesn’t mean it should be denied.” She called the slaying “ghastly.”

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Chandra Levy

WASHINGTON — Investigators wrote letters to the accused murderer of intern Chandra Levy, posing as  a woman, hoping to get a confession, the Washington Post reported. They never got a confession.

Still, the defense team raised the issue Thursday in a pretrial hearing in D.C. Superior Court, and unsuccessfully tried to get the judge to dismiss the charges, saying D.C. police orchestrated the “ruse” and made contact with the client, Ingmar Guandique, without going through his attorneys — a violation of his rights, the Post reported.

“We don’t know if this action was hatched with the assistance of prosecutors or done by police alone,” defense attorney Santha Sonenberg said, according to the Post. “Knowing [Guandique] had asserted his attorney rights and did not want to talk about it, is offensive.”

Judge Gerald Fisher did not dismiss the charges, but said he would review the matter to determine if he should take action, the Post said. Trial is set for Monday.

The Post reported that the officers wrote the letters to Guandique in prison under the name “Maria Lopez” between 2004 and 2005, but Guandique never confessed to anything, the Post reported.

Guandique, 29, is already serving a 10-year sentence for attacking two women in Rock Creek Park in 2001.

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