Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Sentenced to Life in Prison
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
July 17, 2019

Share

NEW YORK — The Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced Wednesday to life behind bars in a U.S. prison, a humbling end for a drug lord notorious for his ability to kill, bribe or tunnel his way out of trouble.

“My case was stained and you denied me a fair trial when the whole world was watching. When I was extradited to the United States, I expected to have a fair trial, but what happened was exactly the opposite.” Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman
A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence, five months after Guzman’s conviction in an epic drug-trafficking case.
The 62-year-old drug lord, who had been protected in Mexico by an army of gangsters and an elaborate corruption operation, was brought to the U.S. to stand trial after he twice escaped from Mexican prisons.
Guzman, sporting his trademark moustache after being clean-shaven during his trial, spoke in court Wednesday for what may be the last time the public hears from him. Prior to his sentencing, he complained about the conditions of his confinement and told the judge he was denied a fair trial. He said U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan failed to thoroughly investigate claims of juror misconduct.
“My case was stained and you denied me a fair trial when the whole world was watching,” Guzman said in court through an interpreter. “When I was extradited to the United States, I expected to have a fair trial, but what happened was exactly the opposite.”
He also thanked his family for giving him “the strength to bear this torture that I have been under for the past 30 months.” He looked at his family after the sentencing and placed his hand on his heart.

Defense Argued He Was Framed by Other Traffickers

The sentence — life plus 30 years— was pre-ordained. The guilty verdict in February at Guzman’s 11-week trial triggered a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Cogan also ordered Guzman to pay $12.6 billion in ill-gotten proceeds — money his drug-trafficking organization made distributing cocaine and other drugs around the United States.
The evidence showed that under Guzman’s orders, the Sinaloa cartel was responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in court papers re-capping the trial. They also said his “army of sicarios” was under orders to kidnap, torture and murder anyone who got in his way.
The defense argued he was framed by other traffickers who became government witnesses so they could get breaks in their own cases. They also claimed his trial was tainted by jurors improperly viewing media coverage of the highly publicized case.
“A fair outcome was a fair trial— that’s all we wanted,” defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told reporters Wednesday outside the federal courthouse. “It was not justice. We can’t have a situation where the jurors are running around lying to a judge about what they were doing.”
Experts say he will likely wind up at the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” Most inmates at Supermax are given a television, but their only actual view of the outside world is a 4-inch window. They have minimal interaction with other people and eat all their meals in their cells.

Guzman Reportedly Was Itching to Testify

While the trial was dominated by Guzman’s persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he wouldn’t testify.

At the trial, Guzman’s lawyers argued he was the fall guy for other kingpins who were better at paying off top Mexican politicians and law enforcement officials to protect them while the U.S. government looked the other way.
But evidence at Guzman’s trial suggested his decision to stay quiet at the defense table was against his nature: Cooperating witnesses told jurors he was a fan of his own rags-to-riches narco story, always eager to find an author or screenwriter to tell it. He famously gave an interview to American actor Sean Penn while he was a fugitive, hiding in the mountains after accomplices built a long tunnel to help him escape from a Mexican prison.
There also were reports Guzman was itching to testify in his own defense until his attorneys talked him out of it, making his sentencing a last chance to seize the spotlight.
At the trial, Guzman’s lawyers argued he was the fall guy for other kingpins who were better at paying off top Mexican politicians and law enforcement officials to protect them while the U.S. government looked the other way.
Prosecution descriptions of an empire that paid for private planes, beachfront villas and a private zoo were a fallacy, his lawyers say. And the chances the U.S. government could collect on a roughly $12.5 billion forfeiture order are zero, they add.
The government’s case, defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said recently, was “all part of a show trial.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Trustee Wittrup Says District Had Stronger Candidates Than Misty Her

DON'T MISS

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

DON'T MISS

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

DON'T MISS

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

DON'T MISS

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

DON'T MISS

How Trump Tariffs Could Upend California Farms, Wine Businesses, and Ports

DON'T MISS

Tulare Man Sentenced to State Prison for DUI Crash That Injured Two Women

DON'T MISS

Judge Partly Blocks Trump Order Seeking to Overhaul US Elections

DON'T MISS

Two From Search Group That Uncovered Mexico’s ‘Ranch of Horror’ Killed

UP NEXT

Two From Search Group That Uncovered Mexico’s ‘Ranch of Horror’ Killed

UP NEXT

Chicago Bears Great Steve McMichael Dies at 67 After Battle With ALS

UP NEXT

Long Wait Is Over for Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and Other Draft Prospects Joining the NFL

UP NEXT

Golden State’s Jimmy Butler Injured in Game 2 Loss, His Status for Game 3 Unknown

UP NEXT

Jalen Green Makes Eight 3s to Help Rockets Even Series With Warriors

UP NEXT

Israeli Fire Kills at Least 44 People in Gaza, Hits a Police Station

UP NEXT

Trump Tells Putin to ‘STOP’ After Russian Attacks Kills 10 in Kyiv

UP NEXT

US Justice Department Directs Investigations Over Gender-Affirming Care

UP NEXT

Earthquake of Magnitude 6.02 Strikes Turkey, GFZ Says

UP NEXT

US Justice Department Cancels Hundreds of Grants for Police, Crime Victims

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

2 hours ago

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

2 hours ago

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

3 hours ago

How Trump Tariffs Could Upend California Farms, Wine Businesses, and Ports

3 hours ago

Tulare Man Sentenced to State Prison for DUI Crash That Injured Two Women

4 hours ago

Judge Partly Blocks Trump Order Seeking to Overhaul US Elections

5 hours ago

Two From Search Group That Uncovered Mexico’s ‘Ranch of Horror’ Killed

5 hours ago

US Warns States They Could Lose Transportation Funding Over Immigration, DEI Policies

5 hours ago

Don’t Miss Out! Tower District’s Porchfest Festival Is Saturday

5 hours ago

Shooter in 2022 Chicago-Area Parade Massacre Sentenced to Life in Prison

5 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Wittrup Says District Had Stronger Candidates Than Misty Her

Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup says the district had an opportunity to select an experienced superintendent with a track record of suc...

42 minutes ago

42 minutes ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Wittrup Says District Had Stronger Candidates Than Misty Her

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during an 'Unleashing American Energy' event at the Department of Energy in Washington, U.S., June 29, 2017. (REUTERS File)
1 hour ago

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

2 hours ago

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

Chickens sit at a poultry farm. March 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo)
2 hours ago

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

2 hours ago

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

Candi, GV Wire's Adoptable Cat of the Week
3 hours ago

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

3 hours ago

How Trump Tariffs Could Upend California Farms, Wine Businesses, and Ports

Maxwell Barrios, 28, of Tulare, was sentenced to over four years in state prison on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, for a 2023 DUI crash that seriously injured two women, including one who required a partial arm amputation. (Tulare County DA)
4 hours ago

Tulare Man Sentenced to State Prison for DUI Crash That Injured Two Women

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend