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Murder Accusations Hang Over Silk Road Boss Ulbricht's Sentencing
Patrick O'Neill writes: Ross Ulbricht has never been tried for murder. But tomorrow, when the convicted Silk Road creator is sentenced to prison, murder will be on the mind of the judge. Despite never filing murder-for-hire charges, New York federal prosecutors have repeatedly pushed for harsh sentencing because they say Ulbricht solicited multiple murders. The judge herself recently referred to Ulbricht's "commission of murders-for-hire" in a letter about the sentencing, painting an even grimmer picture of Ulbricht's sentencing prospects.
if the sentence is in any way based on an assumption of guilt for a crime he wasn't actually tried for.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
When you get a hold of the accused laptop which is logged in and has ample evidence of being an administrator of the site in question... what exculpatory evidence do you think existed that could have gotten him off that he was denied?
Tor is secure if you use it right... many do not. Bitcoin however we did find is far from anonymous and the evidence in the blockchain could be used against you years or even decades after your illicit purchase.
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As I recall, the reference llines from Law & Order are "Objection, hearsay your honor" and "Objection, if the prosecution has any evidence of these claims why hasn't my client been charged?"
It's standard procedure to have other defame or stand up for the defendant personally ("Goes to character, your honor") during a trial but I'm pretty sure there's a line drawn at explicitly accusing someone of a heinous felony to this end. In fact it needn't even be a felony I bet: You cannot accuse the defendant of something illegal of which they have not been convicted precisely because of that silly innocent-until-proven-guilty thing.
Not, with "parallel construction", "civil forfeiture", or the CIA knowingly holding and torturing people it knew to be innocent, that the US legal system actually practices *that* any more.
First off, even getting that laptop was fruit of the poisoned tree because they got it using evidence the NSA gathered through illegal wiretapping programs.
Even then, Ulbreit admitted he built the site. He just didn't run it during the period in question. The entire point of the name "Dread Pirate Roberts" is that anyone can use it.
Besides, the site did use Tor correctly. It didn't help because the NSA has infiltrated Tor, which should surprise no one, because it was originally built by the US DOD anyway.
I don't know the legality, but it seems shitty. Think about how it could be easily abused.
"The defendant has a history of abusing children and assaulting police officers. He has cheated on his wife and hadn't paid his bills. Consider all of this when you determine how he should be sentenced."
Utterly reprehensible if this is legal. This is what children do. If I were on a jury, I'd be inclined to give the most lenient sentence possible.
Citation?
So he admitted buying the gun and evidence puts him at the murder scene... but you are still going to fight the idea that he pulled the trigger? You can be an accessory to a crime without directly taking part.
But then lets just ignore the other evidence on his laptop which did show him being a more active runner of the site than you suggest.
Really? So you've personally audited it and certified that in your capacity as an AC Tor expert?
FYI: Posting to Stackoverflow with your own name when trying to learn how to setup a Tor hidden service isn't the brightest thing when you are trying to not have the site tied to you.
Like many, I'm still waiting to see/hear of these secret backdoors in Tor that were somehow inserted not through rouge check-ins... but through large checks to the Tor foundation.
Lemme guess... 9/11 was an inside job?
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