Judge Denies El Chapo Guzmán Request To Hug His Wife

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

It seems that "El Chapo" will not receive his hug.

A New York federal court judge denied Joaquín Guzmán Loera's request to hug his wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, before starting arguments in her drug trafficking trial next week.

In a letter to the judge presiding over the case earlier this week, one of his lawyers asked "that Mr. Guzmán be allowed to give his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, a brief momentary greeting to include a hug" before start the procedure.

On Thursday, in response to the petition, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Brian Cogan said he agreed "with the request."

"As the defense attorney points out, the defendant's conduct during what are surely difficult procedures and the conditions of confinement for him has been exemplary, and has shown considerable grace under pressure," the judge wrote, yet he had no choice but to deny it.

Cogan noted that he had previously maintained the "government restriction that prohibits the accused from communicating or having physical contact with his wife to prevent the notorious drug trafficker from coordinating any escape from prison or directing any attack against persons who could cooperate with the government".

He added that “the same concerns that justified its implementation in the first place still exist today. In any case, this is especially true on the eve of the trial, when the reality of the potential responsibility facing the accused if convicted can be established and his motivation to escape or threaten a witness could be particularly strong.”

El Chapo Guzmán, who twice escaped from high-security prisons in Mexico, ran "the world's largest drug trafficking organization" and used murder, kidnapping, and torture to maintain his control over the Sinaloa Cartel.

He was extradited to the United States last year, and has since been held in solitary confinement.

The lawyers' petition appears to confirm that the defendant's wife, who has previously traveled to New York to attend her husband's court hearings, will attend the trial, which will be held amid heightened security measures and a huge expectation.

The Mexican capo faces a life sentence of being found guilty.

The trial will be held in Brooklyn, New York, before an 11-person jury. It is scheduled to start next Tuesday.