Silk Road boss Ross Ulbricht denied bid for new trial Ross Ulbricht has lost his bid to set aside his life sentence for selling illegal drugs through the now defunct underground website Silk Road. Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road from 2011 through 2013 under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2015 on charges of …
"And he gets off scott-free, for now."
"For now" being the operative word. He and his cohorts are subject of an active investigation into Russian interference in the US election as well as racketeering in the state of New York.
He'll end up being impeached, resigning for reasons of "ill-health", or section 25'd. Too slowly for most people's liking but he'll be gone. With him will go most of the shitshow that is his presidency. Whoever his successor is, e.g. Pence is probably going to follow a more traditional Republican agenda.
Even if Trump got impeached or otherwise didn't finish out his term, he won't face any criminal charges. The president can't be tried in a court of law, only by the Senate after being impeached by the House.
I suppose if he broke the law before he took office theoretically he could be prosecuted, but as with Hillary breaking the law it isn't something the powers that be are likely to pursue unless it is totally unrelated to becoming/being president - even then pretty much anyone who reaches that level will have done some things wrong. "Jailing your opponent / former office holder" is the sort of thing banana republics do, so I think that's a line no one wants to cross.
"Even if Trump got impeached or otherwise didn't finish out his term, he won't face any criminal charges. The president can't be tried in a court of law, only by the Senate after being impeached by the House."
It is widely held that "The President" probably can't be charged and tried in criminal court while in office. However, an ex-president can be charged and tried for acts commited while in office. That's why Ford decided he had to pardon Nixon: to avoid having the whole mess moving into criminal courts and dragging out for years. It is also widely held that being tried in a criminal court after having been impeached and acquitted is not double jeapordy.
Where the "activity" in question includes hiring hitmen to commit murder, and causing others to die from overdose.
Well at least one good thing has come out of this horror, the true nature of the libertarian ideology has been clearly exposed for what it really is: the creed of psychopathic gangsters.
Maybe so, that's untested law. But like I said, I don't think anyone will want to go there. If Trump is impeached and leaves office, Pence will pardon him, but even if he didn't I don't think there'd be an appetite even among democrats (aside from the voices on the fringe, like Maxine Waters) to push for him to face criminal charges. Sets a precedent that neither party will want to establish.
I was under the impression that the life sentence was for paying to have someone killed (ie attempted murder), but it looks like he was sentenced to life before he even went on trial for "commission to murder".
Courts are allowed to take judicial notice of evidence of unsavory things about the defendant when deciding which of an allowed range of sentences will be imposed. You need not be convicted of a crime for evidence regarding it to be used in your sentencing.
Yeah - life's not fair and all that but this was a spiteful show of making an example of someone. How successful it's been is questionable. The guy got caught through poor tradecraft rather technical Tor issues and whatnot and people have learned from his mistakes. Life without parole? That the USA
§2D1.1
Level 38 offences:
90 KG or more of Heroin;
450 KG or more of Cocaine;
45 KG or more of Amphetamine
You fucking what?? Speed is 10x more of an offence that Cocaine?
Twice as much of an offence as HEROIN??
Sounds like someone is spending too much time in the evidence room...
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