Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

Post by dmix » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:10 AM UTC

phaus wrote: post #30

neotek wrote: post #7

I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…

>the libertarian ideals that justify the existence of Silk Road should have their day in court Real trials don't play out like they do in hollywood. You don't get to spend your time in court talking about your ideology and lobbying for better laws. The entire trial will be about whether or not he's guilty of breaking the laws that already exist.

Post by mburns » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:15 AM UTC

baby wrote: post #28

btilly wrote: post #14

It will be interesting to see this unfold. But I am inclined to believe Ulbricht here. My main reason for finding it immediately believable is that the name "Dread Pirate Roberts" is an obvious Princess Bride reference to a pirate who inherited his trade and occupation from another pirate. That combined with the fact that the name did not appear on the forums for the first few months leads me to believe that the name…

What 2013 quote?

Post by utnick » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:18 AM UTC

codezero wrote: post #3

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe they just need to convince the jury he didn't act alone? There is probably a decent amount of evidence to show he had help and maybe wasn't running the whole operation, but this seems like a defense approach that will make the jury very suspicious from the onset.

Post by mindslight » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 4:20 AM UTC

dmix wrote: post #31

phaus wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the libertarian ideals that justify the existence of Silk Road should have their day in court Real trials don't play out like they do in hollywood. You don't get to spend your time in court talking about your ideology and lobbying for better laws. The entire trial will be about whether or not he's guilty of breaking the laws that already exist.

The defense can object to letting him explain his libertarian viewpoints if they can convince the judge it is not relevant to the case or charges. Which the prosecutor in this case directly attempted during pretrial last month: > Prosecutors in the case against alleged Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht want the court to prohibit Ulbricht from saying almost anything political at all, according to a motion filed last…

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Jan 14, 2015, 5:18 AM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #37

dmix wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The defense can object to letting him explain his libertarian viewpoints if they can convince the judge it is not relevant to the case or charges. Which the prosecutor in this case directly attempted during pretrial last month: > Prosecutors in the case against alleged Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht want the court to prohibit Ulbricht from saying almost anything political at all, according to a motion filed last…

If he were being tried by a jury of his peers , it would not need explaining.