NEW YORK _ Cocaine kingpin "El Chapo's" demand for a new trial doesn't pass the sniff test, prosecutors said Monday.
Chapo's conviction in February was based on "overwhelming evidence" and delivered by a jury that showed great "diligence," lawyers in the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office said in a 99-page filing Monday.
Chapo, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman Loera, asked for a new trial last month after a juror contacted Vice News and claimed several panelists secretly followed media coverage of the trial and heard allegations withheld from them _ including claims Chapo "drugged and raped 13-year-old girls."
The Mexican drug lord said juror knowledge of such "vile" allegations made a fair trial impossible.
Brooklyn prosecutors were unmoved by the request _ they say the Vice story contained "unsworn hearsay and double-hearsay allegations" that did not warrant a new trial.
"As the Vice News Article raises no concern that the defendant is innocent and that the jury wrongfully convicted him, a new trial is not justified," prosecutors said.
They said the anonymous juror's claims that certain jurors viewed and discussed media coverage and then lied to the court about it were "dubious" at best.
Prosecutors said the court directly questioned the jurors and found "all but two of the jurors were unaware of the coverage."
Brooklyn federal Judge Brian Cogan questioned the jurors and concluded he "could not be more confident that they have been following (the court's) direction," prosecutors wrote, citing the judge's own words in the court record.
Chapo, 61, was convicted Feb. 12 of international drug trafficking and federal murder conspiracy charges. Jurors decided he was a "principal" boss of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, a finding that triggered a mandatory life sentence.
Eight days after the guilty verdict, Vice News published the bombshell story based on a two-hour video interview with the anonymous juror.
"You know how we were told we can't look at the media during the trial? Well, we did. Jurors did," the juror said.
One juror may have received news from a smartwatch worn in the courthouse, Vice said.
"One factor that sets these (allegations) apart is a juror's frank confession that panel members actively sought out and openly discussed the most sensational extrinsic information _ including vile allegations that the defendant raped young girls," Chapo's lawyer Marc Fernich wrote in his filing last month.
The lawyer said the revelations provided enough reason to "declare a mistrial and start afresh."
"If a justice system's measure is how it treats the most reviled and unpopular, then ours may have failed Joaquin Guzman by denying him the fair trial before an untainted jury to which he's constitutionally entitled," Fernich wrote.
Defense lawyer A. Eduardo Balarezo wants Cogan to order a hearing in which jurors are brought back in for in-person examination.
Chapo's sentencing has been set for June 25.
