Fears for Chapo jury

Will remain hidden

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: HIDE!

Jurors selected for the upcoming trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán (inset) — Mexico’s allegedly most violent and powerful drug lord — will remain anonymous and sequestered in the courthouse under heavy guard for their protection, a Brooklyn federal judge said Tuesday.

The panelists will be escorted by armed US marshals to and from the building each day, Justice Brian Cogan instructed.

While jurors are typically allowed to wander out of the courthouse during lunch or breaks, in this case they will be permitted to spend time only in pre-approved quarters of the courthouse during the trial day.

Cogan even took the highly unusual step of barring defense lawyers and even prosecutors from being given any identifying juror information, including their names, addresses and places of employment.

Cogan cited prosecutors’ contention that Guzmán’s cartel “employs ‘sicarios,’ or hit men, who carried out hundreds of acts of violence, including murders, assaults and kidnappings.”

The extreme safety precautions are needed to “protect the integrity of the trial and to mitigate any fear of harassment or intimidation in the jurors’ minds,” Cogan wrote in his decision.

“The government has presented strong and credible reasons to believe that the jury needs protection,” the judge wrote.

Jurors have yet to be selected for the case, which is set to begin in September and is expected to last three to four months.

Guzmán, the alleged head of the ruthless Sinaloa Cartel, has twice escaped maximum-security prisons in Mexico.

Cogan ordered the security measures over the objections of Guzmán’s lawyer, Eduardo Balarezo.

Balarezo argued that the moves would make his client seem dangerous and appear guilty from the start.

A law-enforcement source said Cogan also will receive extra security attention.