NEW YORK.- Judge Brian Cogan rejected an effort by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera to reduce his sentence on grounds of poor legal advice, in addition to the fact that a possible plea deal was not considered.
The former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel even sought to have a lawyer assigned to him, stating that he did not have sufficient financial resources to hire one to represent him before the Eastern District Court of New York.
Lawyer Mariel Colón stopped representing “El Chapo” in January 2023, although she only offers advice on the translation of documents that the drug trafficker himself sent to Judge Cogan in his own handwriting.
“Having reviewed the petition and based on my extensive experience criminally prosecuting the petitioner, I cannot find that the petitioner meets any of the requirements for the discretionary appointment of counsel,” the judge said in his Dec. 26 order.
Judge Cogan even reminds “El Chapo” that the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected his having “ineffective” legal advice, as he claims.
“As discussed below, the Second Circuit rejected most of the grounds he has raised in his direct appeal petition and his ineffective assistance to his attorneys are insubstantial,” the judge determined.
The judge also indicates that the request to modify the sentence is unfeasible, since there are not sufficient arguments in this regard.
“El Chapo” has millions of dollars
Part of the decision even reminds “El Chapo” that the trial he faced in 2018 showed that his drug trafficking business generated millions of dollars.
“There are no special circumstances that suggest the appointment of an attorney. Quite the opposite. “All the facts show that the petitioner does not meet the threshold requirement of being ‘financially incapable of obtaining adequate representation,'” the judge said.
Judge Cogan’s decision is due to several motions by Guzmán Loera, even those that have a response from prosecutors, but that were delivered under seal.
“The Government has submitted a sealed letter detailing evidence, some presented at trial and some not, leading to the conclusion that the petitioner controls millions or even billions of dollars in assets, even if they are not in his own name. ” indicates Cogan.
The judge’s decision reminds “El Chapo” that at his trial a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent testified that the drug trafficker routinely smuggled large amounts of cash.
“Up to $20 million between the United States and Mexico,” Judge Cogan recalled.
He also indicated that for his trial, “El Chapo” hired separate teams of high-profile lawyers, including for the appeal before the Second Circuit.
“At trial, Petitioner retained four separate teams of well-known and high-powered attorneys, including on appeal, to represent him,” Judge Cogan said.
Guzmán Loera has sent several petitions to Judge Cogan, even accusing him of violating his constitutional rights, since allegedly the staff at the Supermax in Florence, Colorado, does not provide him with documentation translated into Spanish.
In one of his arguments, “El Chapo” states that among the errors of his lawyers was not having considered a plea agreement, to achieve certain conditions with prosecutors that could give him the “possibility of being acquitted.”
However, Judge Cogan reminded “El Chapo” that the plea deal process was exhausted in court and during the trial.
“This Court will assume for the purposes of this decision that, in fact, the petitioner’s judicial team made no such effort [de acuerdo de culpabilidad]. But the record shows that this was both because the petitioner did not want it, and because the probability of obtaining a plea agreement was practically zero,” the judge said.