The appeal case of the trial that sentenced Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera to life imprisonment for drug trafficking was seen this Monday in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, which heard the arguments of his defense attorney, Marc Fernich.
Fernich defended in the oral hearing that the trial that led the Mexican to receive the maximum sentence be annulled and claimed that his client should have a new process and was based on the “unprecedented” restrictions in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan made it impossible for him to have a fair trial, the media say.
He argued that the restrictions imposed on the Mexican, former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, did not allow him to participate in a meaningful way in his own defense.
“We cannot reverse a sentence simply because of the conditions in which he was in prison,” said during the hearing one of the judges.
During the proceedings against Guzmán Loera, his lawyers insistently claimed that it was difficult for them to prepare the case due to security restrictions, which, they claimed, affected his cognitive abilities.
In September of last year, the defense of one of the most wanted men by the US government presented documents before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York in which they set out all the reasons why they consider that Guzmán Loera, sentenced to life imprisonment on July 17, 2019, he was due to have a new trial.
The three judges on the appeals panel finally gave the opportunity to orally state their reasons.
Fernich also claimed today the “misconduct of the jury” before the judges of the federal appeals circuit, referring to the fact that members of the jury did not follow the instructions of Judge Brian Cogan not to follow the trial through media coverage.
He recalled an interview with the media “Vice” that a member of the jury granted under anonymity, after the trial ended, who assured that at least five members of the jury followed the media coverage and that they lied to the judge in that regard.
The Appeals judges questioned the lawyer whether the conduct of the jurors had an impact on the Guzmán Loera trial.
Today’s hearing was also attended by the District Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which took the case against “El Chapo” and who refuted Fernich’s arguments.
JM
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