Reliance on jailhouse informant dooms Chandra Levy case

Armando Morales was a gang leader, drug dealer and a jailhouse snitch. But he was also a commanding, dynamic presence on the witness stand when he told jurors that his cellmate, Ingmar Guandique, confessed to the murder of Washington intern Chandra Levy.

Jurors believed Morales, and prosecutors obtained a conviction against Guandique at his 2010 trial despite lacking a confession, witnesses or DNA evidence. They obtained a conviction even though everyone knew that police had initially suspected another man, former California congressman Gary Condit.

But for the last five years, while Guandique was imprisoned on what was to have been a 60-year murder sentence, defence lawyers accumulated new information that cast doubt on Morales’ truthfulness. They learned that he asked to be put into the witness protection program in exchange for his testimony, even though he testified he hadn’t sought any benefit for testifying.

Last year, a judge ordered that Guandique receive a new trial after prosecutors acknowledged a retrial was warranted.

Meanwhile, as questions about Morales continued to grow, a woman named Babs Proller who met Morales by happenstance began recording her conversations with him, and turned them over to authorities earlier this month.

On Thursday, prosecutors dropped all charges against Guandique, saying they had received evidence recently that would make it impossible for them to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

It’s not entirely clear what’s in the recordings. Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to say whether the recordings prompted prosecutors to seek dismissal of the case.

Edward Brady, an attorney for Proller, said his client became involved in the case by sheer coincidence and contacted prosecutors, defence attorneys and Levy’s mother.