NEW YORK _ The beauty queen is worried about her kingpin.
El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel broke her silence Tuesday in front of Brooklyn Federal Court, telling reporters she was beside herself because the drug lord is not adjusting well to jail.
"(My) main worry is his health because I know he's in a very bad psychological state. He feels very bad, the lawyers have told me, and that worries me," Coronel said in front of a media gaggle.
Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman, who was extradited from Mexico last January to face charges of narco-trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping and murder, has been suffering behind bars, his wife said.
Coronel beseeched prosecutors to go easy on her husband.
"How is he going to get to trial if his health is not good?" the 28-year-old said of her 61-year-old spouse.
Coronel, speaking in Spanish, noted Guzman's lawyers and the couple's twin girls are allowed to see him in lockup, but she only gets to see him in court and isn't otherwise allowed to speak or visit with him.
Coronel has brought the young girls to past court dates. But Tuesday, she came to court without them.
Her husband, decked out in a navy blue jail uniform, gave her a hearty wave as he was led in and out of court.
Guzman didn't speak at the brief hearing, but his lawyer, A. Eduardo Balarezo, said he was planning for Guzman to undergo another evaluation by a neuropsychologist.
Like Coronel, Balarezo has fretted about Guzman's mental state in solitary confinement.
He's being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.
The judge told prosecutors to turn over all their evidence to the defense by May 18. He said there was a "good chance" he'd block any evidence prosecutors produced after that.
Cogan said he'd bring in between 800 and 1,000 potential jurors this summer to fill out questionnaires.
Jury selection in Guzman's trial is scheduled to start in September.
