This entire story was very weird, if you give Wired 100% credibility.
It felt to me like Feds wanted to do everything in their power to put him down for lifetime, and I wouldn't be surprise if more skeletons come to the light.
Namely, the part about him hiring a hit man was very fishy. First it was his coworker that agreed to helped Feds to play dead, but then you had some bikers performing multiple hits (supposedly all successful) on people Ross wanted dead. Uhm, so basically a motorbike gang agreed to play along with Feds, plus many "victims" agreed to disappear and play dead for months so that Ross is convinced all that money he paid the gang were for successful hits. Maybe in a Grisham book, but in real life things like that don't line up this good.
Then Feds didn't hesitate to tell judge about all this, but then they decided not to use "evidence" of Ross ordering hits, and focus only on his drug business.
So basically you have a judge that looks at a person that supposedly order multiple hits, who also created website to exchange some drugs. No wonder he got lifetime behind bars.
I don't think drug dealers go to jail for lifetime.
Another thing that struck me was allowing testimony of parents of a teen that drug himself to dead. Seriously? Sure, had not SR, he probably would have never found access to drugs somewhere else.. NOT. How about looking into the quality of their parenthood? Environment he lived in? His school and friends problems? etc etc. But no! Just exactly when was the last time you seen a family trying to shut down Ford car company and put the CEO behind bars because their two young children burnt to death in a car accident caused by a Ford vehicle??
EDIT: my point about Ford was that when did you see last time a car company CEO being found guilty and put in jail for lifetime because his company's vehicles are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including young children.
It is simply not true that the DOJ declined to use evidence of the murder-for-hire scheme in their case. Not only did they do that, but they built a whole leg of their case on it. Ulbricht was charged with attempting a murder-for-hire scheme. That scheme was one of the explicit actions used as the basis for his conspiracy charge. It was presented to the court as something that Ulbricht's defense could (and was obligated to) refute.
This notion that the DOJ tainted the case by telling the judge about a murder-for-hire scheme without charging it is a meme that simply will not die. By repeating it, you're essentially broadcasting that you didn't even bother to read the Ulbricht indictment.
> Just exactly when was the last time you seen a family trying to shut down Ford car company and put the CEO behind bars because their two young children burnt to death in a car accident caused by a Ford vehicle??
It felt to me like Feds wanted to do everything in their power to put him down for lifetime, and I wouldn't be surprise if more skeletons come to the light.
Namely, the part about him hiring a hit man was very fishy. First it was his coworker that agreed to helped Feds to play dead, but then you had some bikers performing multiple hits (supposedly all successful) on people Ross wanted dead. Uhm, so basically a motorbike gang agreed to play along with Feds, plus many "victims" agreed to disappear and play dead for months so that Ross is convinced all that money he paid the gang were for successful hits. Maybe in a Grisham book, but in real life things like that don't line up this good.
Then Feds didn't hesitate to tell judge about all this, but then they decided not to use "evidence" of Ross ordering hits, and focus only on his drug business.
So basically you have a judge that looks at a person that supposedly order multiple hits, who also created website to exchange some drugs. No wonder he got lifetime behind bars.
I don't think drug dealers go to jail for lifetime.
Another thing that struck me was allowing testimony of parents of a teen that drug himself to dead. Seriously? Sure, had not SR, he probably would have never found access to drugs somewhere else.. NOT. How about looking into the quality of their parenthood? Environment he lived in? His school and friends problems? etc etc. But no! Just exactly when was the last time you seen a family trying to shut down Ford car company and put the CEO behind bars because their two young children burnt to death in a car accident caused by a Ford vehicle??
EDIT: my point about Ford was that when did you see last time a car company CEO being found guilty and put in jail for lifetime because his company's vehicles are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including young children.
(never)