Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to be in US court, in person
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 U.S. in the 1980s and ’90s. The defence says it hasn’t seen any evidence of illegal acts.
To get Mexico to hand him over to the U.S., prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. They’re demanding he forfeit $14 billion in assets.
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