05 February 2019 - Jury Deliberations Begin in Trial of Drug Lord El Chapo
El Chapo jury begins deliberations after 56 witnesses, 200 hours of testimony
Ray Sanchez (CNN, 04/02/2019)
Jurors began deliberating Monday afternoon in the case of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, the beginning of the end to a case that featured 56 witnesses and 200 hours of testimony.
For two and half months, an anonymous and partially sequestered jury of seven women and five men in Brooklyn federal court sat through a case that could be described as "International Drug Trafficking 101."
They heard testimony about unspeakable tortures and ghastly murders, epic corruption at nearly every level of Mexico's government, narco-mistresses and naked subterranean escapes, gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed diamond-encrusted pistols.
El Chapo Trial: The 11 Biggest Revelations From the Case
Emily Palmer and Alan Feuer (The New York Times, 03/02/2019)
After a lengthy 11-week trial, a jury on Monday will begin deliberating the case of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug kingpin known as El Chapo. Mr. Guzmán faces 10 charges, including leading a criminal enterprise and the importation and sales of large amounts of narcotics into the United States. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
The trial has allowed prosecutors to extensively detail the inner workings of Mr. Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel, providing unparalleled insight into international drug trafficking. Here are 11 of the most important takeaways, in no particular order.
El Chapo trial: witness claims drug lord committed statutory rape
Edward Helmore (The Guardian, 03/02/2019)
Unsealed documents about the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán contain claims by witnesses that he engaged in sexual acts with minors he called “vitamins”. The disturbing allegation comes just as a jury is about to start deliberating in the US drug-trafficking case.
According to papers made public late on Friday, a key government cooperator told authorities Guzmán had him drug girls as young as 13 before Guzmán coerced them into sexual activities at one of his Mexican hideouts in the late 2000s.
One of Guzmán’s lawyers called the accusations “extremely salacious” and questioned the timing of the government filing.
The rise and fall of 'El Chapo,' Mexico's most wanted kingpin
Dave Graham (Reuters, 04/02/2019)
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is Mexico’s most notorious kingpin who shipped tonnes of drugs around the world, escaped two maximum-security jails and became one of the world’s most-wanted fugitives.
He now faces the prospect of life in prison.
Jurors on Monday will begin deliberations on 10 criminal counts facing Guzman, 61, in the trial that began in November in New York.