Levy’s dad: Did best to implicate Condit in slaying

— Chandra Levy’s father recounted Tuesday his suspicions that former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit of California was implicated in his daughter’s murder.

In a surprise trial appearance, Dr. Robert Levy told jurors that he and his wife, Susan, once considered Condit “the primary suspect” in Chandra Levy’s 2001 murder. The Modesto, Calif.-based oncologist cited the “suspicious circumstances” surrounding his daughter’s affair with the married congressman.

Levy said his rage may have led him to tell police stories for which he had no direct proof, including allegations that Chandra had a “ five-year plan”to marry Condit or to move in with him.

“We were so mad at Condit that we would say anything that came to mind, to point to him as a villain,” Levy said.

Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher, though, blocked defense attorneys from probing some specific allegations, and some of the statements blurted out by the 64-year-old Levy were stricken from the trial’s formal record.

“We were thinking Condit was guilty [until] we learned of this character here,” Levy said at one point, referring to accused killer Ingmar Guandique.

Prosecutors summoned Levy on the second day of Guandique’s trial. An illegal alien from El Salvador, Guandique is charged in the death of Levy on May 1, 2001, during an attempted sexual assault in Washington’s Rock Creek Park.

Defense attorney Santha Sonenberg pressed Levy repeatedly, though not always successfully, to recall that he previously told investigators that Chandra did not like to jog or hike, to cast into doubt the prosecution’s theory that Levy was attacked while jogging on a hilly trail.

Earlier Tuesday, 35-year-old lawyer Christy Wiegand told jurors that Guandique jumped her in Washington’s Rock Creek Park. The July 1, 2001, assault took place two months after Levy disappeared in the same park.

“He grabbed me from behind, and he held a knife to my face,” Wiegand said. “He brutally attacked me, and he dragged me to an isolated place.”

Wiegand’s testimony followed the appearance Monday of Halle Shilling, who was also attacked by Guandique in Rock Creek Park. Guandique eventually pleaded guilty to attempted robbery in the two assaults, for which he is now completing a 10-year federal prison sentence.

Prosecutors stressed Tuesday that both attacks bore the hallmarks of a sexual assault rather than a robbery.

The disappearance of the 24-year-old Levy quickly became a national sensation in 2001 after speculation and then revelations about her relationship with Condit.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/27/2010

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