FILE PHOTO: Recaptured drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico January 8, 2016. REUTERS/Henry Romero
January 25, 2022
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld the drug trafficking conviction of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, rejecting his argument that jurors improperly followed the case in the media during his blockbuster trial.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan also rejected several other arguments Guzman raised in seeking a new trial, including that his jail conditions were deplorable and that the U.S. government selectively targeted him for prosecution.
“I’m sure Mr. Guzman will seek Supreme Court review,” the defendant’s lawyer Marc Fernich said in an email.
The office of U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Guzman was convicted in February 2019 of trafficking billions of dollars of drugs and conspiring to murder enemies, stemming from his role as a leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
He has been serving a life sentence at Colorado’s Supermax, the most secure federal prison, and was also ordered to forfeit $12.7 billion.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Alistair Bell)
