Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán will not testify in his own defense at his federal trial. In a rare moment speaking in court Monday, the 61-year-old said he will follow his attorneys’ advice and decline to take the stand.
Guzmán has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts, including drug trafficking and money laundering charges. El Chapo’s lawyers plan to call the first of their two witnesses Tuesday, after prosecutors rested their case on Monday, reports CBS News’ Jericka Duncan.
There was another dramatic moment at the courthouse in Brooklyn on Monday when the actor who plays El Chapo on television, showed up in court. Alejandro Edda seemed almost starstruck by his face-to-face encounter with the infamous drug kingpin he plays in the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico.”
“He was just right there – that’s the man, Señor Guzman,” Edda said.
He smiled and waved at Edda. The actor said he came to see El Chapo in person to help make his portrayal be as truthful as possible.
“I was shaking in a way. Inside, I didn’t know what to do. I just paid him my respect, just saying like through the distance and it was a very surreal moment, I have to be honest, looking at his eyes,” Edda said.
Edda, however, was not shaken in his belief that El Chapo, once the most wanted man in the world, belongs behind bars.
“I think he’s guilty. There’s many many things horrendous that he did,” Edda said.
Prosecutors say El Chapo was the mastermind behind a multibillion-dollar drug gang that put more narcotics on American streets than anyone in history – over 220 tons of cocaine alone.
More than 50 witnesses testified against him since November in an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“They are exactly the kinds of people who’d be involved in the major drug business. You’re not going to find saints who are working in the drug cartels, particularly the Sinaloa drug cartel,” said CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman when asked about the credibility of the people who testified against him.
El Chapo’s attorneys are trying to convince the jury their client was framed by the real leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who remains at large.
“Most lawyers would certainly say you would never put a criminal defendant on the stand who has so much baggage. And in this case, how would he ever be cross-examined? You have tapes, you have encrypted phone calls, and texts. Everything has now become open,” Klieman said.
With just two defense witnesses left, the trial is now starting to wrap up. Closing arguments are expected to begin Wednesday and if convicted, El Chapo faces life in prison.
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