By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Federal authorities said actor Sean Penn’s secret meeting with notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman set the stage for capturing the fugitive.
But did Penn break the law by interviewing Guzman?
Penn met with Guzman while an international manhunt was underway for Guzman.
Penn said he used burner phones and other methods to dodge detection.
But it’s not illegally to meet with someone who is a fugitive from justice, BBC reports, citing law enforcement experts.
“Simply having contact with a known narco-trafficker is not the basis of prosecution,” said Daniel Richman, a professor of law at Columbia University and a former federal prosecutor.
What’s illegal is to help a fugitive avoid capture or to interfere with the manhunt.
“There don’t seem to be signs that Mr Penn is guilty of that, or that authorities in the US or Mexico will file criminal charges against him,” BBC wrote.
