A lawyer for convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán filed an appeal against his client’s life sentence the day after it was handed down, court documents published Monday show. The 62-year-old, who was the former co-leader of Mexico’s feared Sinaloa drug cartel, was convicted in February of smuggling large amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States.

Guzman’s defense lawyer, Marc Fernich, filed the notice of appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit with hopes that his client will get another chance at a trial. But according to news reports, the appeal process could take months to a year to be completed. 

Will El Chapo’s grounds for an appeal actually be successful?

Guzman has already been sentenced to life in prison and sent to a federal maximum security prison in Colorado, which is nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” An additional 30 years were added to Guzman’s sentence and he was also ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture, the amount was based on a conservative estimate of revenues from his cartel’s sales in the U.S.

But after an expected appeal, Guzman will now have to wait. How long? That could take up to a year, according to the AFP. During his sentencing, Guzman claimed that he had received an unfair trial due to juror misconduct. This is referring to a story that claimed several members of the jury violated a court order by looking at social media and various news pieces about the high profile court trial. 

“I was extradited to the US to have a fair trial, where justice would be blind to my fame and would not be a defining factor in the administration of justice,” Guzman said during his sentencing. “But what happened was actually the opposite.”

According to his lawyer, El Chapo has a “strong issues for appeal.”

While the odds of Guzman winning an appeal appear to be steep, his defense team is confident that they have a good chance at overturning the conviction. “Guzman has strong issues for appeal. We’ll fight to overturn his conviction and are confident we’ll prevail,” Fernich told the AFP. 

Another defense lawyer for Guzman said last week the trial was unjust due to various jurors violating the judge’s orders by following the case in the media.  Jeffrey Lichtman is asking to for a fair trial on behalf of Guzman that isn’t influenced by outside voices that would affect the way his client is viewed. 

“All we had asked for is a fair trial. I’m not here to tell you that Joaquín Guzmán is a saint . . . Whatever you think of Joaquín Guzmán, he still deserves a fair trial, everybody does in America . . .” Lichtman told the AFP.

Guzman has gone on the record claiming that the conditions he’s been placed in since he was extradited from Mexico to the United States in January 2017, have been unfair from the start. 

Besides the trial itself, Guzman claims there was “no justice” in his case from the start due to the media sensationalism and high-profile figures involved. He’s also described his incarceration in the U.S. a “psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day.”

The former drug lord of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel said the U.S. lacks justice and is smeared with corruptness, like other countries. During his sentencing hearing, Guzman said his human rights were violated and had been put in horrible jail conditions that he described as “torturous”. He claims he was unable to sleep well, had trouble breathing and was not allowed to see his wife or daughters.

“I’ve been forced to drink unsanitary water. I’ve been denied access to fresh air and sunlight. The only air I have in my cell comes through in the air vent,” Guzman said. ““It has been physical, emotional and mental torture.”

Many were angry at Guzman’s comments citing the hundreds of lives he’s endangered and were cut short due to his reign over the Mexico drug cartel business. It’s safe to say this won’t be the last time we hear from Guzman as he heads to federal prison for what many hope is his last stop. 

READ: Mexico’s President AMLO Says That ‘El Chapo’ Should Of Got A Different Sentence, Not Life In Prison

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday called the jail conditions of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman ‘inhumane’, after the drug lord was rushed out of New York within hours of receiving life sentence. 

Lopez Obrador said at his regular morning conference that sentences like the one for El Chapo – ‘a sentence for life in a hostile jail, hard, inhumane’ – made a life no longer worth living. 

The convicted Mexican drug lord was forced to immediately depart for the highest security prison in the U.S. to serve his term, his lawyer confirmed on Thursday. 

At his daily press conference, AMLO said he felt the life sentence ‘El Chapo’ received was inhumane.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday blasted Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s life sentence as “inhumane” — echoing comments made by the convicted druglord himself.

“A sentence for life in a hostile jail” would be “hard” and not worth living, said AMLO at a morning press conference.

He did, however, call Guzman out for his murderous ways and drug-fueled life of crime. “It’s something very painful,” said López Obrador, adding that he had “many victims in mind.”

AMLO’s comments come a day after Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison.

Guzman will spend the rest of his life in Colorado’s supermax prison after being convicted in February on an array of drug-trafficking charges.

Ahead of his sentencing this week, the Sinaloa Cartel leader claimed his incarceration was “physical, emotional and mental torture” — and “the most inhumane situation” he had ever experienced in his “entire life.”

After the Mexican President’s comments went public…this was basically the country’s collective response.

Many said the president was bringing shame to his country with ignorant comments about a man who was connected to the murder of thousands of people.

While some speculated that perhaps the rumors of corruption among AMLO and his alleged connections to El Chapo may be true after all.

Many in Mexican media weren’t buying any of AMLO’s take. Many accused him of complete hypocrisy.

Many took issue with the Mexican President’s treatment of migrants fleeing violence in their home countries to get to the US – and crossing through Mexico in the process. Mexican authorities, at the direction of AMLO, have began series of zero tolerance campaigns aimed at cracking down on migrants.

The government has placed record numbers of migrants in detention centers – similar to those in the US. And as one Twitter user pointed out, AMLO seems more concerned about the treatment of a convicted murderer than that of people fleeing violence.

AMLO also plans to go after any assets seized by the US to use in his own country.

In his sentencing order, the judge demanded a $12 billion forfeiture from El Chapo to the US government for the impact his crimes have had on society. However, AMLO said that he would work to get every asset seized by the US back into the hands of Mexico.