‘El Chapo’ is facing life in prison. Here’s why he may get a new trial.

At the start of every jury trial, it’s standard practice for the presiding judge to give jurors a set of preliminary instructions.

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan took it a step further during the high-profile trial of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Trial transcripts recount that Cogan gave three directives to the jury just before 5 p.m. on Jan. 30, immediately after the prosecutor concluded the closing argument. They were the same rules he had repeated most, if not all, days during the three-month trial: