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El Chapo’s Son Ovidio Guzmán Won’t Be Back in a Chicago Courtroom Until April 14, 2027 — Prosecutors Still Weighing Whether His Cooperation Spares Him Life in Prison

By The Narco Blog · October 15, 2026

Head-and-shoulders photo of Ovidio Guzmán López, a young man with dark curly hair and a light shirt, against a plain wall.
Ovidio Guzmán López, “El Ratón,” in the photo used on a 2021 U.S. wanted poster. This photo is not from the Oct. 14, 2026, court order. Image: Homeland Security Investigations / U.S. State Department (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

Ovidio Guzmán López, “El Ratón,” the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in Chicago in 2025, will not appear before a judge again until April 14, 2027. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman cancelled his Dec. 7 appearance and reset it for April, at the request of both prosecutors and defense lawyers, Noroeste and La Razón de México reported.

Head-and-shoulders photo of Ovidio Guzmán López, a young man with dark curly hair and a light shirt, against a plain wall.
Ovidio Guzmán López, “El Ratón,” in the photo used on a 2021 U.S. wanted poster. This photo is not from the Oct. 14, 2026, court order. Image: Homeland Security Investigations / U.S. State Department (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.

What the court order says

Noroeste, citing the court’s minute entry in case 1:09-cr-00383 in the Northern District of Illinois, reported that the April date is a status hearing at 10:30 a.m. Chicago time, not a sentencing. It said the court excluded time through April 14. Neither Noroeste, La Razón nor Milenio reported a reason for the change. According to Noroeste, the hearing has already moved several times this year: from July 10 to July 27, and then, in September, from Oct. 28 to Dec. 7.

Cooperation and a possible life sentence

Noroeste reported that Guzmán López pleaded guilty on July 11, 2025, to two drug-trafficking conspiracy counts and two counts of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. It said he agreed to pay $80 million and to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors, and that the maximum penalty is life in prison. Milenio reported that prosecutors have said he is cooperating in hopes of a reduced sentence and are still assessing whether that cooperation is enough to spare him a life term. Noroeste said he dropped off the Bureau of Prisons’ public inmate locator in July 2025 and is held at an undisclosed location under U.S. Marshals Service protection.

He was arrested on Jan. 5, 2023, in Jesús María, outside Culiacán, Sinaloa, and extradited on Sept. 15, 2023, La Razón reported.

The dark steel-and-glass Dirksen U.S. Courthouse tower in downtown Chicago with a U.S. flag flying in front.
The Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, home of the federal court for the Northern District of Illinois. File photo, not from the Oct. 14, 2026, order. Photo: Ken Lund (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

The other Chapitos

His brother Joaquín Guzmán López, taken into custody in July 2024 along with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, has also pleaded guilty in Chicago. Milenio put his next hearing on March 1, 2027. Their brothers Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, whom outlets describe as the leaders of Los Chapitos, the Sinaloa Cartel faction, remain at large. Noroeste noted U.S. rewards of up to $10 million for each.

Related coverage: Who Is ‘El Ratón’? Ovidio Guzmán López: Role, Charges and Status

Sources

Reported Oct. 15, 2026, from the outlets above. The Narco Blog did not review the court docket directly. Guzmán López has pleaded guilty but has not been sentenced; Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar have not been convicted and are presumed innocent.