If you've got a trial coming up, you should be made well aware of the Rules of Court by your lawyers. It's stuff like not being late, not turning up drunk, and other kinds of common-sense things about the legal proceedings. But for notorious drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, he's promised to follow his own special kind of rule that has many people left a bit shocked.
As the Netflix series based on El Chapo teaches us, the Mexican started at the bottom in the Guadalajara Cartel before rising to create his own empire as the boss of the dangerous Sinaloa Cartel. His nickname "El Chapo" means "shorty" in Spanish, referring to his 5 ft 6 in (168cm) stature. But despite that, he's been ranked as one of the most powerful people in the world by Forbes several times and was known as the most powerful drug trafficker in the world by the United States Department of the Treasury.
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BeOPbUTBhDl/?taken-by=elchapolaserie]]
He is described as dangerous, ruthless, and feared by many, with the US Drug Enforcement Administration declaring that he matched the influence of fellow drug lord Pablo Escobar, who has his own rival Netflix show Narcos. The 60-year-old was first arrested in 1993, but after bribing prison guards managed to escape his 20-year sentence in 2001. He was captured again in 2014, before escaping jail yet again through a tunnel in 2015. But finally, a shootout in January 2016 lead to his capture a third time, and feds have managed to hold onto him until now.
El Chapo now faces sentencing for several counts of murder, criminal enterprise and for production and international trafficking of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, methamphetamines and heroin. Which brings me back to the hearing.
What was it that he promised he wouldn't do before trial, you ask? It wasn't to start swearing profusely in Spanish or "accidentally" forget to shower for a few weeks – but not to kill any of the jurors of the trial. Whoa.
El Chapo's lawyer said that because he doesn't plan on ordering the murder of the jurors involved in his trial, there is no need for them to have their identities made anonymous, as is currently planned. The identities of the jury have been kept secret at the request of prosecutors, and each member has been assigned armed guards for the months-long trial that is scheduled to begin in September.
Giving jurors special protections "sends the message to each juror that he or she needs to be protected from Mr Guzmán," El Chapo's defence attorney A Eduardo Balarezo stated in a recently filed motion. "From there, members of the jury could infer that Mr Guzmán is both dangerous and guilty."
This, of course, might influence their decision of how to sentence El Chapo. The New York Post reported that reasoning for the jury's protective measures came down to the drug lord's known history of violence and the bad habit of having tried to have witnesses of past trials killed.
[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeq1cBzgnzA]]
Balarezo also claimed the government is basing its fears simply on allegations of Guzmán’s behaviour, referencing "untested and suspect statements from cooperators seeking to reduce their own sentences."
He suggested that – since his defendant wasn't planning on murdering any of them anyway – the jurors' names could just be kept from media and the kingpin himself, rather than remaining totally anonymous.
The judge has yet to rule on the motion, but yikes, with that "I'm not going to kill you" promise, this sure continues to be an interesting case to follow.
