Drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to be tried in U.S. next year
NEW YORK — A federal judge on Friday set an April 2018 trial date for Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on charges he oversaw a multibillion-dollar international drug trafficking organization responsible for murders and kidnappings.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan first suggested during a pretrial hearing in Brooklyn that a trial could occur earlier next year, but he settled on April 16 after acknowledging the difficulty defense lawyers are having communicating with Guzman in a federal lockup in Manhattan where he is subjected to solitary confinement.
Defense lawyers complained they are separated by glass or a screen from Guzman during meetings, hindering communications. The judge said the matter will be investigated.
In a written ruling a day earlier, Cogan let the government keep most restrictions in place for a defendant famous for twice escaping from prison in Mexico, including once through a mile-long tunnel stretching from the shower in his cell.
The U.S. government has said severe restrictions are necessary for Guzman in part because he used coded messages, bribes and other means to arrange escapes and continue directing his drug empire from behind bars.
Guzman was brought to the U.S. in January. He has pleaded not guilty.
As Guzman, 59, entered a packed courtroom Friday, he nodded toward his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, a former beauty queen, who smiled and waved to him from her seat among spectators.
Guzman listened to a Spanish translation of the proceeding through a headphone. He spoke to the judge for a portion of the hearing during which Cogan ensured Guzman was willing to keep his lawyers from the Federal Defenders of New York despite government claims they could be compromised because four potential trial witnesses against him had been represented in the past by the same office.
“Yes, sir, I want to continue with my federal defender attorneys,” he told the judge.
As the judge pressed through questions to be sure Guzman had been properly informed of potential conflict-ofinterest issues, the defendant said: “Yes, sir, I am making my own decisions.”