Topic: Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison - page 38. (Read 50169 times)

it actually made me more civilized of a person.  cause i used to walk down the street lamenting the loss of my ex-girlfriend with song.  now i just smoke cigarettes.  fuck her.  and fuck her kind (hipsters).

Not that harsh if you just google a law book.

You need to take into consideration what was being sold in the silk markets, and all other markets. You could buy people in there...

Hopefully the appeal process will help, right now this is a sad day for freedom.



Blame Ross if it makes you feel better, hope your cough gets better in the future.   

How is death penalty worse than life in prison?

he actually deserves life.  unlike most of u people.  i actually bought some damaging drugs from that site (like opium).  the instructions were to put it in my freezer cause it came from India and was really hot and liquid like.  but i didn't wait.  i instead smoked the plastic it came on by accident.  now i have this cough that won't go away

fuck HIM

and FUCK HIM FOR NOT SELLING OPIUM LOCALLY OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AND KEPT IT OUT OF THE HEAT
FUCK ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES IN GENERAL.

He should have moved to Antigua. They would probably not extradite him back to the U.S. They have a beef with our government as it is. This country can be harsh in sentences when it comes to drugs. Even if you are the middle man. It could be worst because in some countries they would have given him the death penalty.

They got him real good. Real good.

I don't sympathize AT ALL with Ross Ulbricht. However, I don't think the court made a good decision. Ross gave away 100k+ bitcoins - for what? life in prison? future criminals will know not to give their coins away so easily.

My feelings captured succinctly in this statement to the court by one Eugene V. Debs:

"Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Honestly though, I'm not selfless enough to serve a prison sentence like that for the sake of my family or anyone else. I don't know about Ross, but I've already experienced more than my fair share of suffering. Kudos to Ross if he can ride it out, but if I was him I'd find some way to kill myself rather than exist as walking dead in prison conditions. To be fair though, the thought of even one year in prison makes me feel that way, public school indoctrination alone was almost enough to drive me mad. Remember kids, there is nothing to fear in death. Only suffering is worth being afraid of.

Yours in compassion and solidarity,

World Citizen Beliathon

From the judge (Katherine Forrest) on handing out the sentence:

The war on drugs is widely recognised as greatly destructive.  Almost every human is individually "better" than this war.  There is clearly significant demand out there for a market which is "beyond [US] law".  This as a sign that the US government is too powerful and interfering.

That a judge cannot see any value in true liberty is deeply troubling.  That voluntary association should be considered necessarily inferior to democracy is terribly misguided.  That US law should be considered the ultimate source of right and wrong is very dangerous.

Obama and Hillary will not help, but there is a chance Rand Paul would set him free, if he ever gets a chance.

Yeah, even if what i've read is true (that apparently he was trying to get a hitmen to kill some whistleblowers or some shit), the fact cops get away with killing blacks like it's nothing is frustrating.

I second this motion.

Extremely sad situation. I would classify the ruling as unfair in the least if not just plain ludicrous.

So to provide a little context for some folks:

1. Yes it's harsh, but not unusual.

Persons dealing in very large amounts of drugs regularly get life sentences in the United States. Ulbricht is not unusual in this regard. This is all part and parcel of the war on drugs.

2. Yes, Ulbricht can appeal.

Ulbricht has a few options after this. First, he's going to be able to move for the U.S. District Court in which he has been tried, and that's before Judge Forrest, for a new trial. Ultimately, once these motions at the trial court level are denied, he is going to be able to appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits in New York.

At the Second Circuit, Ulbricht will be able to pursue what is called his "direct appeal." This will be before a three judge panel of the Second Circuit. They will hear any appeals of any legal issues that are during the appeal, but not factual issues. That is, you cannot appeal a fact that the jury found, just because you don't like it.

After that, Ulbricht appeals by "right" for the direct appeal will end. Ulbricht could appeal to the full Second Circuit (in what's called an "en banc" appeal). This would be a discretionary appeal, where it takes a majority of the active Second Circuit judges to vote to hear the appeal. If that is denied, or if it rules against Ulbricht, he can then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which it would take four votes of the nine judges to hear his case. This is highly unlikely.

Then, we move on to what we call a "collateral" appeal or an application for a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of (most likely) ineffective assistance of counsel. He will apply for this writ to the U.S. District Court, and then that case will go through the same appeals process I outlined above.

3. This will take a long time. It will probably take at least a year or two for his case to be heard at the Second Circuit Court.

4. There is no parole in the Federal system. A sentence of "life" means a sentence of "life."

5. This is a federal court. Federal courts are different than state courts. So comparisons to what happens in a state court isn't really all that apt here.

Yeah, and just yesterday they gave a pedophile here 7 years probation - with no fine - and Ulbricht gets life in federal with no parole.

Wow that's really harsh.
I really hate drugs and the harm they do.
But putting this guy in prison for the rest of his life won't end drug abuse.

Saddest thing I came across today. Not gonna say I will be depressed or lose sleep at night, but definitely ruined my night. I am feeling for the guy. Shocking witch-hunt story.
Americans, you are all part of this. You are financing his and many other people lose of freedom. It's your money. Hope you feel proud how your tax money is being spent and you do nothing about it, most even think it is right.
I find it amazing american citizens support government tyranny acts such as imprisoning pacific people + invading and destroying countries all the time. Well, it's your money anyway, hope you are all having some fun having YOUR MONEY spent on tyranny worldwide. So much for the land of the free...

You echo my thoughts 100%.