Free Republic

MSNBC host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough has made his departure from the GOP official. The “Morning Joe” anchor said on Twitter on Thursday that he became an independent and he added a picture of himself with an elections official in New Canaan, Connecticut, smiling while holding a form.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, DC on Thursday moved to dismiss the case -- and a retrial -- against Ingmar Guandique, the illegal immigrant previously convicted of murdering intern Chandra Levy in May 2001, citing "unforeseen developments." Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, is set to be released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings. The 2010 conviction of Guandique -- and the 60-year prison sentenced imposed on him at the time -- was vacated and a new trial was ordered in 2015 based on what Guandique's defense team said was new evidence. "Today, in the...

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...

Condit's alleged secret sex life is now in the spotlight after defense attorneys for Ingmar Guandique, the man sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing 24-year-old Levy, filed a new motion last week. Guandique, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, was convicted by a jury in 2010 based on a jailhouse confession to other inmates. However, his conviction was later set aside. Last year, prosecutors dropped their opposition to Guandique's attorneys' request for a new trial. Guandique is facing a new trial this fall. The new motion filed by Guandique's lawyers claims that "aggressive sex involving bondage" may have...

Democratic Congressman Gary Condit of Modesto has canceled a fund-raiser featuring Republican colleague John Kasich, blaming "narrow- minded zealots" for their "mindless" opposition to the affair. Kasich's willingness to appear on behalf of a Democrat had touched off protests among Republicans, with some suggesting that he be stripped of his powerful post as chairman of the House Budget Committee. Condit, a conservative Democrat and a close friend of Kasich, said he canceled the event after it became clear his colleague was being "vilified by narrow-minded zealots . . . (who) believe the sun rises and sets according to partisan affiliation."

Gary Condit accused of lying during trial for man convicted of murdering his former lover Chandra Levy A lawyer for a man convicted of killing Washington intern Chandra Levy said on Friday that former California Congressman Gary Condit, who was romantically linked to Levy, misled the jury when he testified during the man's trial. Ingmar Guandique's attorney Eugene Ohm made the allegation during a court hearing ahead of Guandique's scheduled March re-trial. Ohm said that notes of an interview that authorities did with Condit after Levy's disappearance show that Condit, a Democrat who served in Congress from 1989 to 2003,...

 WASHINGTON (CN) -- Attorneys for the man who faces a retrial on charges of killing government intern Chandra Levy complained in court Friday about the government's control of evidence.     Though Ingmar Guandique's second trial was initially slated to start on March 1, his attorneys expressed concern today they will not have reviewed all of the documents they need to mount a defense by then if the government is not forced to turn over the information soon.     Guandique was handed a 60-year sentence in 2011 for Levy's 2001 murder, but the D.C. Superior Court granted Guandique a retrial over some alleged improprieties in...

The retrial for the man charged in the 2001 killing of federal intern Chandra Levy has been scheduled to begin in March. Earlier this month, a D.C. Superior Court judge agreed to allow a new trial for Ingmar Guandique, 33, who in 2010 was convicted in Levy’s death and sentenced to 60 years in prison. During that trial, Guandique maintained that he was innocent, and beginning in 2013, his attorneys with the District’s Public Defender Service argued that one of the key witnesses who testified against him had lied, making Guandique deserving of a new trial. ADVERTISING

A man convicted of killing Washington DC intern Chandra Levy fourteen years ago is expected to get a new trial after government attorneys on Friday said the 'interests of justice' would best be served by one. On Friday, after more than a year of sporadic hearings and legal wrangling, government attorneys made a stunning legal decision and withdrew their opposition to a new trial for El Salvador native Ingmar Guandique, 33. In a four-page motion, they told a judge they were preparing to retry him after doubts have emerged about the testimony of his one-time cellmate. Guandique's attorneys had previously...

... Lawyers for Ingmar Guandique and the government were scheduled Wednesday to begin three days of hearings. Guandique's lawyers say he was convicted on the basis of false or misleading testimony given by a one time cell mate and prosecutors knew or should have known the testimony was false and investigated the man further. ...

Conservatives in the Ohio House this week blocked a move widely viewed as an attempt by Governor John Kasich to set aside money he could later spend on Medicaid expansion without legislative approval. The version of House Bill 483 (HB 483) passed by the Ohio Senate included a last-minute change to move as much as $300 million in surplus state revenue to the state Medicaid Reserve Fund. Legislators feared this was an effort by the Kasich Administration to circumvent the General Assembly for spending on the Obamacare Medicaid expansion when an existing appropriation expires in mid-2015. ... Kasich, a Republican,...

The November 2010 testimony of Morales helped convict Ingmar Guandique, the man charged with killing Levy in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park in May 2001. Levy’s death occurred shortly before she was to return to her family’s Modesto, Calif., home, and her disappearance drew national attention following speculation and then revelations that she had been having an affair with then-Rep. Gary Condit. A former cellmate of Guandique, Morales testified that the younger inmate had confessed to him that he had killed Levy. Guandique was sentenced to 60 years following his conviction in 2010 on first-degree murder charges Guandique’s defense attorneys,...

WASHINGTON -- A judge has been holding secret hearings in the case of the man convicted in the 2001 killing of Chandra Levy, the latest twist in a high-profile murder that went unsolved for years and captivated the public because of the intern's romantic relationship with a California congressman. The meetings, held sporadically behind closed doors at the courthouse over the last several weeks, raise questions about what comes next in a criminal case that appeared resolved by the 2010 conviction of Ingmar Guandique. The illegal immigrant from El Salvador is now serving a 60-year prison sentence in Levy's death,...

Twelve years after her disappearance, and the case of Chandra Levy still hasn't reach it's conclusion. The 24-year-old Capitol Hill intern was last seen in May 2001. Following the disappearance, her family disclosed to police that she had been having an affair with U.S. Representative Gary Condit. When Condit was unwilling to cooperate with investigators, speculation arose that he was behind the disappearance. While he was never charged, it completely derailed his political career. The man who was eventually charged in her death, Ingmar Guandique, was convicted in 2010 with no physical evidence linking him to the crime. However, two...

A judge is holding secret hearings in the case of the man convicted in the 2001 killing of Washington intern Chandra Levy. Neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers have revealed the purpose of the hearings, which have been taking place in Washington behind closed doors. Several media organizations, including The Associated Press, are petitioning to open the proceedings. The next hearing takes place on February 7. Ingmar Guandique was convicted in 2010 of killing Levy, whose body was found in Washington's Rock Creek Park. The case captured the nation's attention because of Levy's relationship with California congressman Gary Condit. Condit was...

WASHINGTON -- Chandra Levy was murdered, by means unknown, the Washington D.C. medical examiner said today in a disclosure that deepened the mystery behind the demise of the 24-year-old intern who disappeared more than a year ago. "There is insufficient evidence" to establish a precise cause of death, Jonathan L. Arden told a news conference. He said he had not ruled in or out potential causes of death, strangulation among them. He also said he could not determine whether the young woman died where her skeletonized remains were found, or if she had been brought there after her death. Arden...

DEVELOPING: A jury has reached a verdict in the trial of a man accused of killing Washington intern Chandra Levy, MyFoxDC.com reports. Ingmar Guandique is charged with murder in Levy's death nearly a decade ago. Levy disappeared in 2001. Her case drew attention when she was romantically linked to then-Congressman Gary Condit. The California Democrat was initially a suspect but police no longer think he was involved. Prosecutors say Levy's death fits a pattern of attacks by Guandique in 2001 in Washington's Rock Creek Park. That's where her remains were found. Defense lawyers say the Salvadoran immigrant has become a...

Former California Rep. Gary Condit told jurors Monday that he didn't murder Chandra Levy and insisted he cooperated fully with police when they investigated the Washington intern's disappearance nearly a decade ago. But he continued to evade direct questions on cross-examination about whether he had an intimate relationship with Levy, saying "we're all entitled to some level of privacy." A Salvadoran immigrant, Ingmar Guandique, is on trial for murdering and attempting to assault Levy back in 2001. Prosecutors say Guandique had a history of assaulting female joggers in Rock Creek Park, where Levy's remains were found. But it is Levy's...

Gary Condit repeatedly refused to say whether he had sex with intern Chandra Levy Monday in testimony in her accused killer's trial. The former Democratic congressman from California told Washington prosecutor Amanda Haines he has never revealed whether he and Levy were intimate in the nine years since her disappearance, CNN reported. Asked whether he would answer the question, Condit said: "We've lost our feeling for common decency. I didn't commit any crime. I didn't do anything wrong." When defense attorney Maria Hawilo asked if he was invoking his right against self-incrimination, Condit said he would not respond because it...

WASHINGTON — The mother of murdered intern Chandra Levy is asking a judge's permission to attend the trial of the accused killer. In a new legal filing, Modesto resident Susan Levy states she wants the opportunity to be in the courtroom "for the entire trial," set to start Oct. 4. She requires permission to watch because she could also be called to testify. "I'm a mother," Susan Levy explained in a telephone interview Friday. "As hard as it's going to be, it's something a mother has to do."