It’s been quite some time since we checked in with El Chapo, the Mexican drug kingpin whose full name is Joaquín Guzmán.

Our last dip in these waters came with a rather unbelievable story of a hairdresser who claims to be Guzmán’s daughter, and this time around we’re again dabbling in the ridiculous.

Guzmán’s lawyers have asked for his September trial to be moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan – over to Newsweek:

Attorneys asked to have Guzmán’s trial moved to Manhattan federal court over fears that the traffic associated with his transport will turn potential jurors against him. Guzmán’s lawyers argued it would be easier to have him walk down an underground tunnel between his jail cell to Manhattan’s Southern District.

Authorities have to close the Brooklyn Bridge to move the 61-year-old from his solitary jail cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center to the downtown Brooklyn federal courthouse…The transport is done via motorcade and involves marked and unmarked police cars, armored [sic] vehicles and emergency response vehicles.

So jurors will hear about his years leading the criminal super-enterprise Sinaloa Cartel, but it’s the traffic that is going to push them over the edge?

There’s no way it can rival heading out of Cape Town’s CBD, but if it gets to LA levels then the lawyers might have a point.

El Chapo did have to attend that hearing at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn yesterday, and below is the motorcade transporting Joaquin over the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan after he attended the hearing:

Guzmán has been held in solitary confinement since January 2017, and his September trial on drug trafficking and other charges is expected to last four months.

Given what happened to that other judge who investigated the cartel, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near jury duty for this one.

[source:newsweek]