Druglord 'El Chapo' asks US court to free him or order new trial
NEW YORK, United States — Convicted Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has asked a US federal court to dismiss his 2019 conviction for drug trafficking and money laundering or to order a new trial, according to a court document.
In the document, signed by Guzman September 6 and made public through the court this week, the Mexican kingpin said he was provided "ineffective assistance" by his attorneys in his past trial.
He asked the court to "either dismiss the indictment, order a trial, or schedule an evidentiary hearing."
Guzman, who at one time led the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest drug trafficking syndicate in the world, is currently serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison.
Through his lawyers, Guzman argued before the court that previous attorneys failed to explore a plea bargain and object to government motions regarding what they said was classified information.
"The cumulative effect of these errors deprived (Guzman) of fair trial," the motion says.
The court document also argued irregularities in his extradition from Mexico in 2017, saying that the US extradition request stipulated that he be tried in Texas or California, not Brooklyn.
Guzman has appealed previously for a new trial.
A US appeals court on January 25 upheld Guzman's conviction, denying his allegation of juror misconduct in his earlier trial. His lawyers said that one anonymous juror disregarded a judge's instructions to ignore media coverage of the trial.
The appeals court confirmed the life sentence handed down for Guzman in federal court in Brooklyn after his three-month trial.
Guzman, who is incarcerate at ADX Florence, a maximum-security prison in Colorado, was convicted in February 2019 of trafficking cocaine, heroin and marijuana during a decades-long reign as a drug lord.
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