Joaquín Guzmán Loera appeared last Wednesday in a court hearing in Brooklyn. U.S. District Judge, Brian Cogan, granted El Chapo’s request to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after court documents claimed he was losing his mind in jail.
During the briefing, the 28-year-old wife of ‘El Chapo’, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was present along with the couple’s two youngest daughters. The 60-year-old drug kingpin smiled and waved at them.
Cogan urged the lawyers to get the procedure done sooner, rather than later, telling them, “Get her in there quickly.” El Chapo has been in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility since January.
The two-time prison escape artist and his lawyers are under strict orders by the judge to not allow the prisoner to have any physical contact with the psychiatrist. They will not allow him to talk to anyone else but his appointed doctor.
The case will go to trial in April, giving el Chapo’s defense team enough time to review the thousands of documents that the prosecution has warned them about. According to Judge Coganto, they have enough evidence to use against the drug baron.
Outside the Brooklyn courthouse, Guzmán’s lawyer talked about El Chapo, saying, “His memory is failing. He’s not remembering things.” He explained that if he continues that way, he will be mentally incompetent to stand trial in what will probably be the most followed case in American justice history.
In the last week filing, El Chapo’s attorneys said that the severe prison conditions have left the Mexican bandit with a troubling ringing in his ears, a notoriously sore throat, and multiple mental health problems. The lawyers claim that in the last month, Guzmán Loera has suffered amnesia and that he is forgetting people and places.
The defense also claims that the prison staff has been treating their client unfairly and that they don’t allow him to buy bottled water or batteries for his radio.
Guzmán, who was at a time the Most Wanted Man in the world, faces 17 federal charges relating to the drug empire he led as the head of the infamous Sinaloa cartel. He did so successfully since the 1980s until his capture.
Article inspired by Daily Mail // Judge grants ‘depressed’ El Chapo’s request for a psyche evaluation during brief court hearing where the drug lord, 60, greeted him ‘buenos dias’ and waved to his wife and daughters as his lawyers described his ‘failing’ memory