Mafia boss El Chapo Guzman’s “illegal arrest” and his demand for review of his trial

Mexican drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo Guzman Loera also known as ‘El Chapo’ has called for a new trial following the ‘trial of the century’ in New York in 2019, in which he was sentenced to life in prison.

In January 2017, El Chapo was extradited to the United States after his arrest in 2014 in Mexico. The extradition to the Eastern District of New York was illegal.

I should have been extradited to the Eastern District of Texas and the Southern District of California. There has never been a waiver of the ‘specialty rule’ signed by a magistrate judge, El Chapo wrote in the legal document requesting the review.

According to the ‘specialty rule’ cited by El Chapo Guzman, “a person may not be prosecuted, convicted or otherwise deprived of liberty for any crime committed prior to surrender other than the one for which he surrendered.”

Guzman, who is being held at a maximum-security prison in Colorado, also stressed that his counsel was ineffective both during the trial and on appeal.

“My lawyers were not effective. They did not adequately cross-examine the witnesses and, as a result, I was found guilty. Nor did they fight to have certain evidence excluded from the trial,” added the former Sinaloa Cartel boss.

Today, ‘El Chapo’ is represented by Puerto Rican lawyer Mariel Colon Miro, the same one who defended his wife, Emma Coronel. During the ‘trial of the century’ in New York, his legal team was led by Jeffrey Lichtman, who now defends Joaquín and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, two of El Chapo’s sons detained in Chicago, Illinois.