El Chapo's defense team claims client didn't run cartel
Bryan Llenas reports on day two of the trial of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman who is charged with 17 counts including drug trafficking, murder conspiracy and money laundering.
When Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán appears in court, the expression is generally blank. Even when former friends and associates turned foes spill secrets on the stand – the act of snitching that would likely have left them dead back in cartel land – his look is empty.
Sometimes he doesn't know where to look, or attempts to walk through the wrong exit door. Mostly, there is next to no flicker of feeling.
“He shows absolutely no emotion,” said one source, who has been closely connected to the Guzmán case since his extradition to the U.S almost two years ago. “And when he is in his cell, he just stands and paces.”
But the accused leader of the notorious Sinaloa cartel – and once the most wanted fugitive in the world – is still deemed to be so dangerous he remains in solitary confinement 23 hours a day, and is permitted contact only with his legal team.
“He is confused with the whole process,” said the source, referring to the legal proceedings. “The only people he talks to are his lawyers in the cellblock.”
Guzmán twice managed elaborate schemes to escape Mexican jails. So officials in the United States are not taking any risks when it comes to his communication with the outside world.
Authorities describe his daily motions as “living like in a daydream” - extremely quiet and seemingly always searching for his wife, especially in the courtroom, knowing she is out there in the room.
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Yet his game face is perhaps part of a broader plan, some have said. The apparent defense strategy in the trial is centered around the idea that despite the folklore that surrounds him – Guzmán was nothing more than a meek, middle-man cartel worker.
“You have to pull the ‘who, me look?’ to instill sympathy and doubt from the jury,” said a longtime veteran of the U.S. Marshals in New York, Craig Caine, said. “Just another ploy.”
In this photo provided U.S. law enforcement, authorities escort Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. (U.S. law enforcement via AP) (The Associated Press)
Whether the jury agrees won't be determined for some time, as the trial is expected to go on for three to four months.
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