NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. appeals court has upheld the conviction of the notorious Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo.
The decision Tuesday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan praised the trial judge for his handling of the case against Joaquin Guzman.
The three-judge panel rejected claims that Judge Brian Cogan made rulings allowing a jury to hear faulty evidence at a 2019 trial.
According to court documents, Guzman had sought to have his conviction overturned by making 10 claims, including the conditions of his pretrial detention did not allow him the rights to a fair trial and the effective assistance of counsel.
The appellate court found that those claims lacked merit.
"The conditions of Guzman’s pretrial confinement, harsh as they were, do not provide a basis for disturbing his conviction," the appellate court said in its decision. "We emphasize that our task is limited to considering his claim that those conditions violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. We have no occasion to consider whether these conditions might have warranted relief directed to modifying the conditions before trial."
Guzman is serving life behind bars for a massive drug conspiracy that included murder and mayhem for more than two decades.
Guzman's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro was sentenced in November to three years in prison on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
