Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors on Tuesday demanded punishment for the attorneys of alleged Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, after his wife was accused of using a cellphone in the courthouse.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan said wife Emma Coronel Aipuro, 29, ignored court rules by using the phone and ordered her back through the magnetometers outside before a cooperating secret witness testified Monday, the New York Daily News reported.
Guzman, 61, is on trial for more than a dozen counts of drug trafficking, conspiracy, firearms offenses and money laundering as the reputed leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
Prosecutors said surveillance cameras caught Guzman's wife using the phone on Nov. 19, and a court security officer spotted her using a phone again the following day. Guzman is not allowed to have contact with his wife and his lawyers are forbidden to pass messages between them.
In a filing, prosecutors redacted what kind of sanctions they seek for Guzman's legal team.
Miguel Ángel Martínez, a Guzman associate, testified as a government witness Monday. Cogan had barred courtroom sketch artists from depicting the witness's face or hairstyle in their drawings to protect him from being targeted.
The trial is in its third week. Jesus "Rey" Zambada Garcia told jurors last week that Guzman ordered the killing of Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes after the man snubbed him on a handshake, which sparked retaliation and war with a rival cartel.
