Judge orders anonymous jury at trial for drug lord El Chapo
NEW YORK — Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will have an anonymous jury at his U.S. trial later this year.
In a written order, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan agreed with prosecutors who argued that withholding the names of jurors was needed to address any fears that they could be harassed or intimidated. Jurors also will be escorted to and from the Brooklyn courthouse by deputy U.S. marshals and sequestered from the public while inside, the judge said.
Prosecutors offered “strong and credible reasons” why the jury needs protections, including Guzman’s use of sicarios, or hitmen, to carry out thousands of acts of violence over more than two decades, the judge wrote in the order, released by the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday.
That history “would be sufficient to warrant an anonymous and partially sequestered jury, but that many of the allegations involve murder, assault, kidnapping or torture of potential witnesses or of those suspected of assisting law enforcement makes the government’s concerns particularly salient,” he said.