A U.S. Judge sentenced the wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to three years in prison and four years of supervised release on Tuesday.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 32, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs in the U.S., money laundering, and violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act in June. She had also helped Guzman plan an escape from a Mexico prison in 2015.

The sentencing was handed down by D.C District Judge Rudolph Contreas. Before the sentence, she had asked for pity and to not receive a harsh punishment for being Guzman’s wife.

"With all due respect, I address you today to express my true regret for any and all harm that I may have done, and I ask that you and all the citizens of this country forgive me," she said in Spanish through an interpreter according to Reuters.

"Perhaps for this reason you feel there is a need for you to be harder on me, but I pray that you not do that," she added.

Prosecutors originally had asked for Aispuro to be sentenced to four years in prison, and five years of supervised release, along with a $1.5 million fine.

A prosecutor noted that Aispuro “was a cog in a very large wheel of a criminal organization.” The former beauty queen married Guzman when she was 18 and they have nine-year-old twins.

Jeffrey Lichtman, a defense attorney who also represented Guzman in his U.S. trial three years ago, emphasized that she was convinced to join the drug world as a minor, according to Reuters. "She met Joaquin Guzman when she was a minor. She was 17 years old, and she married him on her 18th birthday."

"I'm not sure that she could ever go back home," he added.

Guzman, 63, is currently serving a life sentence in Colorado. He was convicted in February of 2019 for drug trafficking, conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and other charges.

Conteras concluded the sentencing with a sense of mercy for Aispuro and the fact that she will be the main caretaker of their children when her prison sentence is over.

“Good luck to you, "Conteras said, according to Reuters. "I hope that you raise your twins in a different environment than you've experienced today."

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