El Chapo Is Guilty

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán Loera was found guilty of drug trafficking on Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, by the 12 members of the jury who since last November had in their hands the fate of the Mexican drug lord, considered one of the largest drug traffickers in history in being prosecuted by the United States justice.

Anonymous citizens, whose identity has not been released, gave a guilty verdict after 6 days of deliberations on all 10 drug-related charges against El Chapo, 61, who is likely to be sentenced to life in prison when the Judge Brian Cogan will sentence him next June 25.

Those who were present in the room when Cogan read the verdict, assured that Guzmán did not show any emotion and was immediately withdrawn by the federal bailiffs, but not before raising his arm to greet his wife Emma Coronel.

According to Telemundo, the former beauty queen answered with a "very good" questions from the press about how she felt, and then left the court protected by federal bailiffs and without saying anything more to the cloud of journalists who were chasing her.

The decision of the jury consisting of eight women and four men has not generated surprise among those who have followed the 11 weeks of trial, which often gave the feeling of following the script of one of the popular narcoseries, with scenes of crying, stories of bloody murders and highest-level corruption allegations included.

"We hope that he will be sentenced to a life sentence without the possibility of parole from which there is no escape or return," said Eastern New York Attorney General Richard Donoghue on leaving the court. "It is a victory for the American people."

Lawyer Eduardo Balarezo, one of the members of the defense team, called the verdict a “disappointment” and criticized the judge's decisions that “limited” his ability to cross-examine the convicted drug traffickers who testified in favor of the prosecution, thus such as the isolation in which his client was confining that “made it difficult” to prepare the case.

"The government's support for cooperating witnesses reveals the corruption of the justice system in which the government exchanges freedom for testimony," added the lawyer, who in a subsequent press conference said that Guzmán was "strong" and was aware of what could happen to him.

In total, the federal prosecutor's office has paraded 56 witnesses and has provided, among other evidence, recordings of telephone calls that portray the elusive Chapo as a bloody drug trafficker at the head of a huge criminal network that generated, authorities calculate, a fortune of rada based on generous bribes, according to the testimonies presented by the prosecution.

In contrast to the lengthy case filed by prosecutors, when his turn came, El Chapo's attorney Jeffrey Lichtman only called a witness and read a document. In total, it took 30 minutes.

In his final argument, the lawyer reiterated his position that his client was the victim of a plot orchestrated by Ismael el Mayo Zambada, one of El Chapo's partners, with the help of the highest Mexican authorities and the collaboration of the agencies. American policemen, who wanted Guzmán's head as if it were a trophy.

Lichtman reminded the jury that some of the former narcos who had testified against their client had committed appalling crimes and did not deserve credibility, as their sole objective was to gain favor with the authorities at the defendant's expense.

"They have been lied to again and again and the government has not prevented it," said the lawyer, who appealed to the juries to take reasonable doubt into account in their deliberations. “A house built on a rotten foundation cannot be sustained for long. Do we have to believe the words of these lunatics?”

In the end there were no surprises and the 12 anonymous citizens of Brooklyn who had to decide El Chapo's future, good or bad, ended up finding him guilty. Therefore, after leading a true criminal empire and eluding the authorities for long years, the Mexican kingpin's destiny now is to end his days behind bars in a maximum-security prison in some remote place in the United States.