Ross Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) Pardoned by Donald Trump

26 comments

This pardon seems justified to me. Nobody deserves "double life imprisonment plus 40 years, without the possibility of parole", as far as I'm concerned. Yes, literally nobody. And here it's even worse than that: the sentence was explicitly designed to be exemplary, i.e., to frighten others. That is just retribution, vengeance, posing as justice. America should be better than that.
I'm aware that this guy probably ordered two murders. The probably is important.
- The court has no evidence that he ordered murders and dismissed the charges in such a way that they can never be filed again.
  Right after Ross’s arrest, prosecutors in the state of Maryland filed a separate indictment that contained the only allegation of murder-for-hire ever filed against Ross. The indictment referenced an alleged hit on Curtis Green, a Silk Road administrator (more on Curtis Green below). For nearly five years, that indictment was left untouched, unprosecuted. Eventually, in July 2018, the District of Maryland dismissed it with prejudice, meaning it can never be re-filed or used against Ross again.[3][4]
  The PDF referenced in 3: https://freeross.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Doc_14_Dismissal_Indictment_7-26-2018.pdf
  Quoted site: https://freeross.org/false-allegations/
  
  The court has no evidence
  Not beyond reasonable doubt, no. But there was a preponderance of evidence, according to the court. I'm sure you already know this.
  In criminal law you need overwhelming proof. So I agree with you, it's absolutely correct that he was not found guilty of this.
- Chelsea Manning and Aaron Swartz also got ridiculous sentences. It’s a theme with cyber cases
  
  It's a theme with the US justice system. Doesn't happen in Europe, even for genuinely bad crimes.
- Nobody? What sentence would you give Hitler?
  
  20 years maybe, then a permanent community-service mandate

Edward Snowden next please!
- Trump said he is a traitor

At least I can agree with Donnie on 1 thing. People choose to do drugs and kill themselves. Just let them do it. It's not like they would harm the US healthcare system.
- the US healthcare system.
  There is one?
  
  That's the joke.