Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo’ Guzman has been given a trial date of April 18,2018 on charges he oversaw a multibillion-dollar international drug trafficking operation.
A trial date has been set for Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, one of the world’s most notorious criminals.
On April 16,2018, the 59-year old Mexican drug lord will face charges that he oversaw a multibillion-dollar international drug trafficking operation responsible for murders and kidnappings.
The infamous kingpin was extradited to New York on January 19 and has been held in solitary confinement in Manhattan ever since.
Guzman sat between his lawyers with a serious expression on his face, responding ‘yes sir’ when addressing the judge through an interpreter, and exchanging glances with his former beauty queen wife Emma Coronel, 27.
Guzman spent half the hearing looking across the courtroom at his wife, dressed head-to-toe in white, who smiled and waved to him as she entered.
The 59-year-old, famous for twice escaping from prison in Mexico, currently sits in solitary confinement at Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Guzman is kept in a 20-by-12-foot (6-by-3.7-meter) cell for 23 hours a day in a wing often used to house high-risk inmates including terrorists.
On Thursday, he lost his bid to relax the terms of his confinement when US District Judge Brian Cogan concluded that his current accommodations were appropriate.
The US government has said severe restrictions are necessary for Guzman in part because he used coded messages, bribes and other means to continue operating his drug empire from behind bars and arrange escapes.
Judge Cogan said the government had good justifications for applying tough jail conditions on a man who escaped twice, including once through a mile-long tunnel stretching from the shower in his cell.
However, he relaxed the restrictions known as Special Administrative Measures enough for Guzman to communicate with his wife through written questions and answers.
Defense lawyer Michelle Gelernt has repeatedly challenged the severe conditions of her client’s custody and asked Jude Cogan for permission to interact with Guzman in person rather than through a transparent plexiglass wall.
She says the wall hinders communications, especially in preparation for a trial where they will be showing their client 10,000 or more documents.
The judge said the matter will be investigated.
His lawyers also added that in a statement that it was ‘devastating’ for Guzman and his wife that they will not be allowed jail visits.
Guzman was brought to the U. S. in January to face charges that he oversaw a multibillion-dollar international drug trafficking operation. He has pleaded not guilty.
