Prosecutors think Ingmar Guandique killed former Washington, D.C. intern Chandra Levy. Now, they must prove it, McClatchy Newspapers report. This week, nine-a-half years after Levy’s death, Guandique’s long-awaited murder trial begins. Prison snitches will rat out their fellow inmate. Women will speak of being stalked. A California political scandal will be revisited, and prosecutors will use Guandique’s own contradictory words against him. “The stories themselves are fantastical,” said prosecutor Amanda Haines, but “they all have the same core. He attacked Ms. Levy in the woods. He took her off the path. He raped her. He killed her.”
Guandique’s attorneys call the case against their 29-year-old client a gossamer web of lies and strained circumstance. “You’ll find the witnesses and facts don’t add up,” defense attorneys Santha Sonenberg and Maria Hawilo say. “When 12 fair-minded jurors hear (the case), they will find it to be false and deficient.”A dozen journalists have secured daily reserved seats in D.C. Superior Court. Guandique’s attorneys cited the extraordinary attention, including what they called “thousands and thousands of stories” about the case, in an unsuccessful bid to move the trial out of Washington.