YIKES

El Chapo’s Lawyers Intend to Request a New Trial

After juror told VICE News that multiple jurors had followed media reports about El Chapo during the trial.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s lawyers said they intend to seek a new trial after a Vice News report stated that multiple jurors violated the court’s directions to stay away from media coverage, personal internet research, or communications about the trial with any other individuals. In a letter to Judge Brian Cogan, the lawyers said Guzman intended to file a “motion for a new trial based on the disclosures in the article.” The lawyers also wrote that their client intends to request an “evidentiary hearing to determine the extent of the misconduct.” Vice News spoke with one of the El Chapo jurors, who claimed that at least five of his fellow jurors “violated the judge’s orders by following the case in the media during the trial.” The story, published on Feb. 20, stated that the five jurors and two of the alternates “at least heard about the child rape allegations” against Guzman—but the juror insisted that the knowledge “didn’t seem to factor into the verdict.”