Chapo jurors chafed
Signs of strain on fifth day without verdict
Jurors in the trial of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman showed signs of discord Monday afternoon as they ended their fifth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
Some cast irate glances at their fellow panelists in Brooklyn federal court as they asked whether they needed to reach a unanimous decision on specific allegations against the kingpin.
“Does a violation have to be proven or not proven unanimously?” the jurors asked in a note to Judge Brian Cogan after 31 hours of discussion.
The top count against Guzman (right) — running a continuing criminal enterprise — contains 27 violations, and the jurors have to unanimously agree on at least three to find him guilty.
Cogan, however, didn’t explain this, simply telling jurors to refer back to their instructions.
The deliberations have now dragged on far longer than many expected, but the jurors’ task is more complicated than simply deciding guilt or innocence on each count.
The panel of eight women and four men is working through a complicated eightpage verdict sheet that requires them to mark off whether those violations were “proven” or “not proven” by prosecutors, and explain their decisions for each count with yes-or-no questions.
For instance, if they find Guzman guilty on Count 9 — use of firearms — they must answer whether the government proved one or more of the weapons in question “was a machine gun.”
So far, the jurors appear to be drilling into these questions very diligently.
During their first week of deliberations, they requested to review thousands of pages of testimony from government witnesses and peppered Cogan with questions such as whether it is a “drug crime” if drug cartels kill members of rival organizations for “personal reasons.”
On Monday, they asked to go over even more testimony — reading back transcripts from DEA agents Scott Schoonover and Clifton Harrison, who spoke about mammoth maritime cocaine seizures relating to four of the violations.
Both testified about the 2007 seizure of nearly 20 tons of cocaine from a cargo ship called the Gatun — the largest ever drug bust at sea — while Schoonover also spoke about three other seizures, including 13,000 pounds of blow found packed into a submarine.
The cocaine was linked to Chapo through the testimony of various other witnesses, including Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Abadia Ramirez.
Guzman — who faces life behind bars if convicted on the top charge — was in high spirits as another day came to a close with no verdict, laughing and shaking hands with members of his defense team.
His ex-beauty-queen wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, made an appearance in the courtroom, where she waved at and winked to her husband.