Guilty: Mexican drug lord El Chapo, pictured in a 2016 mugshot, was found guilty in February and faces life imprisonment
Mexican drug lord El Chapo should not get a retrial, prosecutors have said, despite claims of improper conduct by the jurors who found him guilty.
Government lawyers dismissed the 'dubious allegations' that jury members had defied the judge's orders and followed media coverage of the New York trial.
Citing 'overwhelming evidence' of El Chapo's guilt, they said the claims would not warrant a new trial even if they were true.
The gangster was convicted of running a huge smuggling operation in February and faces life imprisonment when he is sentenced in June.
A report in VICE News days after the guilty verdict claimed that jurors had a five-minute conversation about press coverage of the case.
It reportedly included discussion of child rape allegations against El Chapo, real name Joaquin Guzman, which the judge had ruled should not be heard in his drugs trial.
Jurors are said to have feared arrest if they admitted to the judge that they had been following the press coverage.
Defense lawyers have demanded a retrial after the claims emerged.
But in a new 110-page submission, government lawyers argue that there is not sufficient evidence of jury misbehavior to warrant a new trial.
In court: Claims emerged in February that jurors had wrongly read press coverage about the Mexican gangster, pictured in a courtroom sketch in New York
Calling the allegations 'dubious', they say the anonymous juror had not brought the claims to the court's attention 'despite ample opportunity to do so'.
'Considering... the overwhelming evidence against the defendant, the alleged media exposure did not prejudice the defendant,' the filing says.
'Thus,
