Twelve New Yorkers have been chosen to sit on the jury that will decide the fate of accused Mexican cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, whose trial on US drug trafficking charges begins next week.

But US district judge Brian Cogan left Guzmán waiting for a ruling on whether or not he would be allowed to hug his wife for the first time in nearly two years.

Guzmán, 61, has pleaded not guilty to charges of overseeing the Sinaloa drug cartel as it directed massive shipments of drugs – including heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine – to the United States. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

The trial has prompted security measures that include keeping the jurors anonymous. Guzmán has also been held in solitary confinement and barred from seeing his wife out of concerns he could pass messages to his cohorts.

Earlier this week, a defense lawyer asked Judge Cogan to grant a “humanitarian gesture” of letting Guzmán greet his wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel, in the courtroom before the jury enters.

Allowing “an embrace with the railing between them would not pose a threat to security”, the letter read. The judge did not immediately rule on the request.

The jury was appointed after two and a half days of interviews by Cogan and lawyers for the prosecution and defense.

The New York eastern district courthouse was patrolled by armed guards with sniffer dogs, and a special metal detector erected at the entrance to courtroom 8D, where opening statements will begin on 13 November.

Prospective jurors were asked whether or not they know who Guzmán is, whether they have looked him up on the internet or watched the vast coverage of the man in serial TV dramas, and of his case.

All of them had heard of Guzmán except for a woman from Ethiopia who said she had “no clue” about him.

The proposed jurors were interviewed anonymously, and those selected will remain so – and sequestered for the duration of the trial, expected to last several months.

They will be transported to and from the court each weekday by armed US marshals.

Candidates were recused for various reasons: One man said on Monday that yes, he had heard of El Chapo from a “delicious” bagel of that name sold at a deli near him, made with smoked salmon and cream cheese. He asked to be recused because he could be identified once that was public.

A woman was recused after telling the judge her elderly mother would feel obliged to sell their house and move if she sat on the jury. A Michael Jackson impersonator was recused after saying he was too well-known, and a man because he said he had “definite views on the case”.

Another man born in Medellín, Colombia, was recused after saying said he tried to get Guzmán’s autograph, and was a “bit of a fan”. El Chapo is said to have smiled at the admission.

Judge Cogan told lawyers that one of the jurors, after learning she was picked, wept while telling him she was afraid of the unwanted attention she would get if it was found out she was on the panel.

The woman was kept on after defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman argued that dismissing her would set the precedent that jurors could get out service “with a few tears”.

The prosecution will be led by Andrea Goldbarg, a former deputy district attorney for Brooklyn.

Goldbarg worked on the prosecution of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva a former close ally of El Chapo who turned against him, and was arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in 2008 with an arsenal and nearly $1m in cash. He was extradited to Washington DC in 2014and sentenced to life imprisonment for drugs trafficking in 2017.

She is also prosecuting the case of the alleged Colombian drug baron Juan Carlos Ramírez, known as “Chupeta”, who was among Guzmán’s main alleged suppliers, and was arrested in Brazil in 2008.

Ramírez had been a boss in the Cali cartel and became leader of the Norte del Valle cartel. The Guardian understands that Ramírez is cooperating with prosecutors, and may even be a witness at the Guzmán trial.