NEW YORK—An appeals court should overturn the U.S. conspiracy conviction of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman because of claims that his anonymous jury flouted warnings to avoid media accounts of the case, a lawyer for Guzman urged a three-judge panel on Monday, catching the attention of at least one judge.
In oral arguments before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, attorney Marc Fernich cited a news report that during deliberations jurors were exposed to salacious claims that were barred from the trial, including that Guzman sexually abused girls he referred to as “vitamins” that gave him energy.
