Chapo’s son was transported from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to a court to hear the crime charged against him.
Shortly before 1 p.m. (Chicago time), Ovidio Guzman Lopez was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center to the Northern District Court of Illinois for the first presentation of his criminal case. After a 14-minute hearing, Chapo’s son Guzman pleaded not guilty to the five criminal charges against him, including drug trafficking and money laundering, according to information shared by Michael Tarm with the AP News agency.
The judiciary act took place in room 1241 and was presided over by Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, who upheld the indictment issued in the Court in January 2023 against ‘El Ratón’ on five criminal charges.
Prior to their arrival at the courthouse, U.S. authorities deployed a heavy security operation to protect the two-and-a-half-block stretch of road connecting the penitentiary to the courthouse, located at the Everett McKinley Dirksen Justice Building.
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who defended Chapo Guzman and now represents his son, arrived at the federal building a few minutes before noon.
At the first hearing of Ovidio Guzman in the United States, Judge Johnson read the indictment against him in this district: possession of drugs with intent to distribute; participation in an ongoing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to import, manufacture and distribute controlled substances; conspiracy to launder money and possession of firearms.
After listening to them, “The Rat” declared “not guilty” of every one of them. For this reason, both the prosecutors and the legal defense of the leader of Los Chapitos will have to prepare the case to give continuity to the process and give way to the corresponding trial.
Ovidio Guzman is scheduled to give a second hearing on November 17, 2023 at the same court. According to his lawyer’s statement at the end of the presentation, he will not face for the time being any of the six charges against him in New York, as he will have to discharge first the case currently pending against him in Illinois. INFOBEA