Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman — the former drug kingpin whose leadership of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel briefly made him a billionaire — is facing a life sentence in the United States on drug trafficking and other charges.
with an anonymous juror who claimed several members of Guzman’s jury followed media coverage of the high-profile trial, defying a judge’s order and potentially swaying their deliberations.
But a panel of judges for the federal 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday the “unsworn, uncorroborated statements” of one juror didn’t make a post-trial hearing into jury bias necessary, and noted that district court Judge Brian Cogan — who oversaw Guzman’s trial — repeatedly reminded jurors not to watch news coverage.
In a decision, the appeals court wrote Cogan “conducted the three-month trial with diligence and fairness, after issuing a series of meticulously crafted pretrial rulings.” The appellate judges also rejected nine other claims by Guzman, including several complaints about evidence and a claim that Guzman’s years-long stint in pretrial solitary confinement made it difficult for him to prepare an adequate defense.