Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to be in US court, in person
In this photo, taken Jan. 8, 2016, a handcuffed Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is made to face the press as he is escorted to a helicopter by Mexican soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City. Mexico’s most notorious cartel kingpin who twice made brazen prison escapes and spent years on the run as the country’s most wanted man, was extradited to the United States on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, to face drug trafficking and other charges. (Photo by EDUARDO VERDUGO/AP)
NEW YORK — Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is to be in federal court in person Friday in New York.
A judge ruled last week that Guzman would appear in court by video rather than have marshals escort him to and from a high-security Manhattan jail cell. But his lawyers asked the judge to reconsider. A new order was issued Wednesday.
Prosecutors describe Guzman as the overseer of a three-decade campaign of smuggling, brutality, and corruption that fueled an epidemic of cocaine abuse and related violence in the US in the 1980s and ’90s. The defense says it hasn’t seen any evidence of illegal acts.
To get Mexico to hand him over to the US, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. They’re demanding he forfeit $14 billion in assets.
