Ingmar Guandique was convicted in the murder of Chandra Levy.

Ingmar Guandique was convicted in the murder of Chandra Levy.
Condit may be called as witness as Chandra Levy trial begins
Acusan a salvadoreño de asesinar a Chandra Levy
Arrest warrant issued in Chandra Levy cold case
Police close to arrest in Chandra Levy cold case
More than nine years after Chandra Levy disappeared, a jury found Ingmar Guandique guilty of her murder.

Levy's mother, Susan, let out an audible sigh of relief when the verdict was read after more than three days of jury deliberations, according to CNN.

"Thank you," she reportedly told the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case.

Prosecutors said that Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador and member of the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, attacked Levy while she was jogging through Washington's Rock Creek Park and killed her when she began to scream.

Her remains were found by a man walking his dog more than a year after her death.

By that time much of the DNA evidence was gone, making the prosecution's case extremely difficult.

Guandique, who does not speak English, had no immediate reaction when he heard the verdict translated through headphones, the Washington Post reported.

When he left the courtroom, he angrily threw the headphones on the defense table, the newspaper said.

Two jurors also reportedly wiped tears from their eyes when the verdict was read.

The disappearance of Levy, who at the time was a 24-year-old intern at the Bureau of Prisons, derailed the career of Rep. Gary Condit, with whom she reportedly had an affair.

For months he was considered the prime suspect and lost a reelection bid despite endorsements from high-profile friends such as Nancy Pelosi.

The former California congressman made headlines again this year when he testified at Guandique’s trial and refused to answer specific questions about his relationship with the 24-year-old.

"We've lost our feeling for common decency," he angrily told lawyers.

In 2002, detectives eventually switched their focus to Guandique, who was convicted that year of attacking two female joggers in the park around the time Levy disappeared.

Prosecutors, who had little scientific evidence to go on, argued that Levy's death was part of a well-established pattern for Guandique.

He also allegedly told cell mates that he had killed the California native. Guandique, who is still serving a prison sentence for the other attacks, faces a sentence of life without parole.

Read more...

He's known as the "Merchant of Death" and the "Lord of War,"

-- an alleged international arms dealer straight out of a cloak-and-dagger spy novel who eluded authorities for years and inspired Hollywood villains.
But in reality, according to those who have seen or met Viktor Bout, he is a somber man, sometimes nattily dressed, a wheeler-dealer who has insisted he is innocent of the allegations leveled against him.
Bout, a Russian citizen and former military officer, speaks six languages "and I could see him bargaining in all six at the same time," wrote CNN's Jill Dougherty in 2008, recalling her meeting with Bout in 2002 in Moscow, Russia.
Bout arrived in New York late Tuesday after being extradited from Thailand. He faces charges in the United States of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, conspiring to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile and conspiring to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. American law enforcement officers have spent years pursuing him, and the extradition process from Thailand was an arduous one for them.
. Before his 2008 arrest, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents led a sting operation by posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), officials said.

Read more...