Mexican Drug Kingpin El Chapo Found Guilty On All Counts, Faces Life In Prison
Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was found guilty on all charges by a federal jury on Tuesday. The former cartel leader was convicted of drug trafficking, weapons charges and operating a continuing criminal enterprise.
Now, El Chapo could be spend the rest of his life behind bars, reports USA Today.
The jurors—eight of whom were women while four were men—reached their verdict after six days of deliberations.
El Chapo, who escaped from a prison in Mexico twice, sat emotionless while U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan read the verdict.
During the trial, which began over two months ago, 56 witnesses were called to the stand by prosecutors. Of those witnesses, 14 of them were former associates of El Chapo who were cooperative in exchange for leniency on their own charges.
The defense only called one witness during the trial.
According to prosecutors, El Chapo earned hundreds of millions of dollars by smuggling and distributing tons of cocaine, heroin, and other narcotics to cities across the United States from the late 1980s into the 2000s.