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Free Ross Ulbricht

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Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#101

Post by yieldcrv »

root_axis wrote: post #74
yieldcrv wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats validating about that? I don't think sentencing should be using information that wasn’t part of the charges or the conviction. I’ve seen prosecutors chose to be extremely strict about that, judges chose to be extremely about that, jurors say “we couldn't convict because we had to follow the prosecutor’s instructions”, and yet here the jury was swayed by actions unrelated to the charges in order to convict, and…

> I don't think sentencing should be using information that wasn’t part of the charges or the conviction. I’ve seen prosecutors chose to be extremely strict about that, judges chose to be extremely about that The judge addressed this: > The record was more than sufficient to support the district court's reliance on those attempted murders in sentencing Ulbricht to life in prison. The attempted murders for hire separa…

There were other “permissible decisions”

Thats the point? The ruling is resilient in that it survived appeals, we disagree on whether it should have gone down this path at all. Railroaded is the term.

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#102

Post by yieldcrv »

weare138 wrote: post #86
yieldcrv wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats validating about that? I don't think sentencing should be using information that wasn’t part of the charges or the conviction. I’ve seen prosecutors chose to be extremely strict about that, judges chose to be extremely about that, jurors say “we couldn't convict because we had to follow the prosecutor’s instructions”, and yet here the jury was swayed by actions unrelated to the charges in order to convict, and…

What do you mean by 'validating'? It's just the reality of the situation. Is his sentence overreaching and excessive given the circumstances? Yes. Definitively yes. Did Ross commit a crapton of crimes? Also yes. Look I fully agree that his sentence should be reduced and he be given a second chance but again the man is in no way innocent either. Seriously if everyone concerned really wants to help this man then everyo…

I don't quote the website, and I was very clear about him being convicted of the things he went to trial for. Furthermore, my whole post was about adding time.

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#103

Post by pcthrowaway »

q1w2 wrote: post #94
pcthrowaway wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was never charged or convicted of murder, and 2 of the agents on his case were corrupt and dishonest. This is enough to at the very least sow reasonable doubt. I'm all for him being imprisoned if guilty of attempted murder, but he absolutely should not still be in prison for the charges that he was found guilty of.

He was not charged with murder because the attempt was intercepted by the police and did not occur. The messages he wrote soliciting the contract murder were submitted as evidence as facts in the case against him and weighed heavily in his sentencing. I don't understand why people want this guy free besides early-crypto-nostalgia.

Attempting murder is still illegal and carries a heavy sentence.

I don't want him free personally, I just want him freed on the drug charges and tried separately for the murder charges

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#104

Post by dang »

heromal wrote: post #17
dutchbrit wrote: post #2

Didn't Ross hire a hitman?

Quoted post unavailable.

Hey, can you please not break the site guidelines like this? We have to ban such accounts and I don't want to ban you.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#106

Post by yashap »

root_axis wrote: post #30

Several posts on this thread (as well as TFA) have suggested the hitman for hire was slander to paint Ulbricht in a bad light. This is not true. > At the sentencing hearing, the district court resolved several disputed issues of fact. For example, because Ulbricht contested his responsibility for the five commissioned murders for hire, the district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ulbricht did in f…

Agreed - from a purely personal morality argument, I’m convinced this guy did indeed pay for contracted killings for 5 people. Yeah, some of the cops setting up the sting were corrupt, I can certainly see why it was sketchy in court and prosecutors decided to drop this angle (they had him on massive drug dealing anyways), but from my personal moral POV, dude paid for murders. I’m not shedding any tears about Ross being in jail.

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#107

Post by djmips »

root_axis wrote: post #30

Several posts on this thread (as well as TFA) have suggested the hitman for hire was slander to paint Ulbricht in a bad light. This is not true. > At the sentencing hearing, the district court resolved several disputed issues of fact. For example, because Ulbricht contested his responsibility for the five commissioned murders for hire, the district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ulbricht did in f…

Is that enough to convince you 100% that it happened?

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#108

Post by deadly_syn »

ddalex wrote: post #77
dachri wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be noted that the killing was conspiraed by FBI Agents where some of them also stealed a bunch of bitcoin for their own interest. It's nowhere mentioned cause it would put the Feds in a bad light

Are you suggesting that FBI actually forced him to contract a hitman? My understanding is that FBI set up the bait and this guy eat it hook and all. It is not illegal or even immoral to bait somebody, there was no pressure, FBI presented the opportunity and this guy wanted to have somebody killed.

Iirc there was some coercion component to it too. The set up was the hells angels were gonna kill the dude anyways and told him if they didnt most of silkroad probably get caught/deanonymised /arrested. Considering the other claims of potential corruption, id say that classifies as an existential threat scenerio entirely created by law enforcement to coarce him into hiring the assassins as a "now or never, life or death" of ross and his customers situation.

Not anything damning either way, bit definitely food for thought.

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#109

Post by tanseydavid »

root_axis wrote: post #59
chonkerz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the "Free Ross" campaigners are trying to persuade us, and I think his parents are largely behind it which I sympathize with, but the manner in which they gloss over FIVE ATTEMPTED MURDERS goes beyond mere bias. Keep Ross In

If his parents are largely behind it they may not be able to even accept that he was capable of such a thing. A sad thought.

"He's a real self-starter and quite entrepreneurial as well."

Re: Free Ross Ulbricht

#110

Post by tanseydavid »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #26
ryan_j_naughton wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think people who facilitate the sale of community destroying hard drugs deserve punishment Alcohol is undeniably a hard drug. It: 1) is extremely physically addictive 2) causes many overdoses and deaths. More than opiates or cocaine. At the same time, there is tons of compelling evidence that: A) making alcohol illegal in the 20s/30s didn't decrease consumption at all and simply increased the danger of consuming…

You conveniently redefined what most anyone would consider not a hard drug as a hard drug to make your point.

>> You conveniently redefined what most anyone would consider not a hard drug as a hard drug to make your point.

That's because alcohol use has been normalized for a very long time.

There's no redefinition happening, you are just comparing a 'normalized' view of alcohol to one that is more realistic about it.

Alcohol positively destroys some people and most of them lost the ability to have any self control over it at some point.

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