EVIDENCE SEIZED IN THE SEARCH OF INGMAR GUANDIQUES’S CELL FOUND ADMISSIBLE IN THE TRIAL FOR CHANDRA LEVY’S MURDER

Ingmar Guandique is set for trial October 4 for the murder of Chandra Levy, the intern to former Representative Gary Condit in Washington D. C.’s Rock Creek Park on May 1, 2001.

Last week Judge Gerald Green held a hearing on pretrial motions. Evidentiary motions are important since there are no eye witnesses or DNA evidence. At the time of Guandique’s arrest he was serving time in a California prison for the assault of two other women in the same park. Prior to his arrest Guandique was questioned in his cell by Federal Park police. They searched his cell and found inter alia pictures of Levy. Guandique’s attorney’s moved to exclude the pictures but the court ruled that there is only a minimal right to privacy in a jail cell and the pictures could be admitted.

The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches without a search warrant. The argument could be made that since Guandique lived in the cell a search warrant should be necessary to search it much like a search warrant is necessary to search a residence. But a search is unreasonable only if there is an expectation of privacy in the area to be searched. Guandique could not have been surprised by the search. There is certainly no reasonable expectation of privacy in a jail cell. Corrections officers regularly search jails and prisons for contraband in order to protect inmates and staff. As a result inmates have been found to have only very minimal privacy rights while institutionalized in jails and prisons.

But at the same time, following long standing policy the Court prohibited the government from using statements made by Guandique to probation officers in relation to the prior conviction for the assault of two other women in the same park. This is done to encourage cooperation with probation officers and to prevent coerced statements.