El Chapo Guzman Receive Thousands Of Documents With Evidence

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

Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán is just three weeks away from facing US justice, and his lawyers are under pressure to prepare a good defense.

On Wednesday morning, during a hearing in a Brooklyn court in New York, the drug lord's team of lawyers complained about the lack of time to review the vast evidence that was released to them.

"This is a big case," attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told reporters on his way out of court. "It is too large, in my estimation, to competently [prepare] it [in] such a short time after receiving the material."

According to the Daily News newspaper, during the hearing, the lawyer received around 13 thousand pages with incriminating evidence against Guzmán, by the federal prosecution. Through the assigned district judge, the attorney asked the prosecution to order the documents in a way that is easier to review, but the judge declined the request. However, he recognized the great work facing the team of three capo lawyers.

The Sinaloa cartel leader pleaded not guilty to 17 charges, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder conspiracy.

The 61-year-old Mexican has been in a Manhattan jail since January 2017, after being extradited. Earlier this year, his wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel, said she did not have any communication with the inmate. For their part, the drug trafficker's lawyers complained about the solitary confinement in which his client had been kept at the time.

The trial will start on November 5 with the selection of the jury. If found guilty, he could face life in prison.