El Chapo’s lawyers say their team couldn’t have helped him send secret text messages to his wife from the holding cell where he’s kept during his trial in Brooklyn — because the reception there is too lousy.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors had claimed that one of the alleged drug kingpin’s lawyers had helped Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman communicate with his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, while the attorney was visiting him in an underground holding area in the Brooklyn federal courthouse. Communication between Guzman and his wife has been forbidden during his trial.
But in an affidavit filed in response Friday, one of Chapo’s lawyers, Jeffrey Lichtman, said he knows that the feds’ allegation can’t be true — because he personally ran a test on cell-phone reception at the jail.
“I personally went down to the waiting area at the marshal’s station and attempted to send text messages to [his co-counsels]. I was unable to do so because of the lack of cellular service,” Lichtman wrote.
The lawyer even included a screenshot of the text messages that he attempted to send but which were never delivered.
“I’m in the marshals area. It’s 11:27. Just checking if I have cell service,” the first message reads. “Looks like I don’t.”
Another says, “11:35. Trying again.”
“Still nothing,” the last message reads.
Prosecutors also accused the defense team of sneaking Coronel a cell phone during trial in the courthouse, where members of the public are barred from bringing in electronics.
Chapo, the reputed leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel on trial for drug-trafficking charges, is subject to such strict security measures that he isn’t even permitted to hug his former beauty-queen wife.