El Chapo Motion for New Trial Denied

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. This is the case of the century. Do I want to live it . . . or do I want to watch it on the screen [Juror]

Judge Coga's ruling is below in full, denying a new trial in the El Chapo case, requested because of alleged “jury misconduct”.

Post-trial, VICE spoke with a juror who claimed jury misconduct. The allegation by this juror was that multiple jurors read about the case on line and other media sources. He/She says that they read and spoke about allegations against El Chapo that were not allowed in trial.

This is the ruling below by Judge Cogan, denying a new trial in the El Chapo case, requested because of alleged “jury misconduct”.

Post-trial, VICE spoke with a juror who claimed jury misconduct. The allegation by this juror was that multiple jurors read about the case on line and other media sources. He/She says that they read and spoke about allegations against El Chapo that were not allowed in trial.

From Cogan: 7 jurors heard of the allegations of Chapo and underage girls:

“The juror also told VICE that five impaneled jurors and two alternates had heard about the allegations that defendant drugged and sexually abused underage women.

The juror said that, before the juror arrived at the courthouse that Monday, the juror read the VICE reporter’s tweet that I would ask the jurors about that news coverage. The juror told other jurors to keep a straight face and deny that they had seen the articles.

But the  juror also said that these allegations did not change anyone’s mind, that they weren’t “hung up” on it, and that the jurors engaged in no more than a five-minute conversation about the story, after which they all moved on.

According to the juror, during that conversation, the jurors acknowledged that the allegations might not be true.

The juror also told VICE that the jury engaged in conversations about the trial before they began their deliberations, in violation of my instruction that they must not discuss the case amongst themselves while the trial was ongoing, and that the juror who gave the interview brought home and kept the notes that the juror took during trial.

Finally, the juror told VICE that the concept of being a juror in defendant’s case was alluring because it would be a historical trial. But the juror also told VICE that the jurors were honest during voir dire when they told me that they did not know much about defendant beyond the allegation that he was a large-scale drug trafficker from Mexico. The juror said that they understood that defendant’s trial would last for months and that their role as jurors would require their anonymity and partial sequestration”

Why Cogan did not allow the allegations regarding underage girls:

"Behind my decision to exclude this evidence upon the Government’s motion in limine was that the allegations are irrelevant to either the crimes charged in the indictment or the credibility of the witness who told the Government this information. Thus, the nature of this information is simply extraneous to whether defendant is guilty or innocent of the charges against him, although it is potentially inflammatory."

VICE quoted the juror specifically as follows:

“You know how we were told we can’t look at the media during the trial? Well, we did. Jurors did.” “We would constantly go to [the VICE reporter’s] Twitter . . . . I personally and some other jurors that I knew.”

“I had told them if you saw what happened in the news [about the sexual abuse allegations], just make sure that the judge is coming in and he’s gonna ask us, so keep a straight face. So he did indeed come to our room and ask us if we knew, and we all denied it, obviously.

“[F]or sure” five impaneled jurors and two alternates heard about the allegations of sexual abuse. 

“We did talk about [the allegations of sexual abuse]. Jurors were like, you know, ‘If it was true, it was obviously disgusting, you know, totally wrong. But if it’s not true, whatever, it’s not true,’ . . . . That didn’t change nobody’s mind for sure. We weren’t really hung up on that. It was just like a five-minute talk and that’s it, no more talking about that. 

“I thought we would get arrested. . . . I thought they were going to hold me in contempt .

. . . I didn’t want to say anything or rat out my fellow jurors. I didn’t want to be that person. I just kept it to myself, and I just kept on looking at your [vice] Twitter feed.” 

“The judge said, ‘You can’t talk about the case among each other,’ but we broke that rule a bunch of times.”

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. This is the case of the century. Do I want to live it . . . or do I want to watch it on the screen."

In his ruling Cogan states:

“Ultimately, the assumed fact that seven jurors discussed for five minutes allegations unrelated to defendant’s culpability published in the media does not compel a finding of  prejudice, and a new trial is not warranted as a result.”

Chapo will be sentenced on July 17, in the Brooklyn courthouse. It is expected he will receive a life sentence, natural life with no parole. The ruling is 45 pages long.  You can read it below. [click on hyperlink below to view in full size]

   El Chapo denied a new trial by Chivis Martinez on Scribd