(CNN) A federal judge in New York Wednesday denied drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's bid for a new trial.

US District Court Judge Brian Cogan rejected defense requests for a new trial or an evidentiary hearing to determine juror misconduct, saying a "mountain range of evidence" against the trafficker strongly countered his attorneys' claims that jurors engaged in misconduct by following media coverage during the proceedings.

"A rational, hypothetical, average jury would certainly have convicted defendant of the crimes charged in the indictment based on the overwhelming amount of direct evidence presented during trial that defendant did, in fact, commit those crimes," Cogan wrote.

Guzman, once the leader of the murderous Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, was convicted in February of running a continuing criminal enterprise and other drug-related charges. The count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise carries a mandatory term of life in prison.

Defense attorney Jeff Lichtman, in a statement, said Wednesday that the ruling further demonstrated the trial "was more of an inquisition, a show trial, than an exercise in true American justice." He added there will always be "a stain of injustice on this case as the jury's rampant misconduct was summarily swept under the rug by the Court and the government."

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