CBS/AP May 5, 2017, 1:15 PM

Drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman will face trial in April 2018

NEW YORK -- A U.S. judge on Friday set an April 2018 trial date for Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on charges he oversaw a multibillion-dollar international drug trafficking operation responsible for murders and kidnappings.

Guzman appeared in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, at a hearing to determine whether he can be represented by federal public defenders, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.

He spent much of the hearing looking across the room to his 27-year-old wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, who was seated in the second row of the packed courtroom.

His public defenders have complained to the judge that their client's restrictive prison conditions are turning him into a "zombie." They also asked the judge to allow them to share the same space as Guzman in the correctional facility where he is being held. The lawyers are currently only allowed to speak to Guzman through a plexiglass screen.

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