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Ross Ulbricht Found Guilty On All 7 Counts In Silk Road Trial
blottsie writes Ross Ulbricht was convicted on Wednesday of running Silk Road, a Dark Net black market that became over a $100 million Internet phenomenon before Ulbricht's 2013 arrest. Ulbricht was found guilty on all seven felony charges he faced, including drug trafficking, continuing a criminal enterprise, hacking, money laundering, and fraud with identification documents. He faces up to life in prison for these convictions.
If ever there was a case that cried out for JURY NULLIFICATION by fully informed juries, this is it.
He and his Silk Road may have been helping illegal activities to some extent. The persecutors [sic] certainly thought so. As do the police when they bust competitors. But a jury has the right to examine both law and facts, in this case to determine whether the help performed was actually criminal, no matter what the law said.
In refusing to thoroughly instruct the jury, the judge tampered with it! Just because SCOTUS has ruled nullification does not _have_ be to instructed does not mean it should not be.
I'm going to make a purely libertarian argument that in this case, murder-for-hire was justified:
Libertarianism is the belief that one should never initiate force or fraud. So given that:
1. If Fred is a robber and points a gun at Bob's Family, then Bob is justified in killing Fred.
2. If Dave witnesses the above scene, then Dave is justified in killing Fred, because Fred is the one that initiated force.
3. If Fred credibly threatens to kill Bob's Family in the future, and the only way to prevent that is for Dave to kill Fred, then Dave is justified in killing Fred.
4. If Fred's credible threat is not to kill Bob's family, but to kidnap them, then Dave is still justified in killing Fred.
5. If Fred's credible threat is to hire Gino to do the kidnapping, then Dave is still justified in killing Fred. Dave is also justified in killing Gino, because now Gino is also initiating force.
In the case of the Silk Road trial, "Dave" is DPR/Ross Ulbricht, Gino is the government, Fred is Frieldlychemist, and Bob's Family are the peaceful dealers and customers of Silk Road.