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This opinion [1] from the judge in his case indicates that the murder-for-hire evidence was admitted during his trial. The document outlines the evidence for al

This opinion [1] from the judge in his case indicates that the murder-for-hire evidence was admitted during his trial. The document outlines the evidence for all 6 murder for hire allegations and explains why, although not charged, the evidence is relevant to his case. [1] https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1391926/gov-uscourts-nysd-422824-142-0.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1391...

simonsarris 2y ago
This opinion (after appeal) also details how they taken into consideration with sentencing. See pages 130-131 https://pbwt2.gjassets.com/content/uploads/2017/05/15-1815_opn.pdf https://pbwt2.gjassets.com/content/uploads/2017/05/15-1815_o...
srj 2y ago
It's surprising to me that the prosecutor is allowed to essentially insinuate crimes to influence the jury, without the need to prove them. That seems to undermine the process because it creates a "there's smoke so there must be fire" mentality for the jury.
- tveita 2y ago
  There was plenty of evidence that he ordered the hits, and the defense had the opportunity to address the evidence in court. The chat logs go far beyond "insinuation" It's ridiculous that people are pretending there is any doubt about his guilt because they like crypto and/or drugs.
  - echoangle 2y ago
    So why not properly charge him then? Do you not think the optics are a bit weird when you sentence someone to life for something relatively small, but the reason is another crime you’re very sure he did but you didn’t bother to charge him with?
    - tveita 2y ago
      Being a drug kingpin is not considered "something relatively small" under US law, as you can see from the sentencing. Being the leader of a large drug operation and ordering hits to protect your business would be considered worse than trying to take out a hit for whatever "personal reasons". Obviously the hits are a lot messier to prosecute as well with the misconduct of the FBI agents, maybe you could hammer that enough to confuse a jury. But people are commenting like the evidence outright didn't exist - I can only think they have either heard it told second-hand, or are employing motivated reasoning.
    - olalonde 2y ago
      Prosecutors often choose not to pursue additional charges against someone already serving a life sentence. This approach helps avoid wasting court time and resources on cases that are unlikely to change the individual’s circumstances or contribute meaningfully to justice (none of the murders for hire resulted in victims). I actually wonder if those charges may still be on the table now that a pardon has been granted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutorial_discretion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutorial_discretion
      - philjohn 2y ago
        AFAIK they were dismissed with prejudice, so can't be brought again.
        olalonde 2y ago
        If I understand correctly, only one of the "murder-for-hire" allegations was dismissed with prejudice[0]. However, he was suspected of orchestrating a total of six "murder-for-hire" plots. [0] https://freeross.org/false-allegations/ https://freeross.org/false-allegations/
        myko 2y ago
        Comically (horrifically sadly?) they were dismissed that way because he was already in prison for life with no possibility of getting out, so the court did not want to waste time on it. And here we are
  - lII1lIlI11ll 2y ago
    Of course it is. Throwing in potential evidence of unrelated crimes to sway other people's (specifically jury's) opinion about the defendant without formally charging him is exactly what the word "insinuation" means[0]: the action of suggesting, without being direct, that something unpleasant is true [0]: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/insinuation https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/insinuat...
  - sebzim4500 2y ago
    > There was plenty of evidence that he ordered the hits, and the defense had the opportunity to address the evidence in court Clearly not that much evidence if the state didn't bother to prosecute those charges. And why would they? The judge sentenced him as though he had been found guilty of them.
- RetpolineDrama 2y ago
  It's a gross miscarriage of justice. The gov should have to prove you committed a crime before that information is admissible at sentencing.
- jari_mustonen 2y ago
  Coincidentally, on the same day, SCOTUS confirmed in Andrew v. White ruling [1] that admitting prejudicial evidence violates due process rights under the 14th Amendment. 1. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-6573_m647.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-6573_m647.pdf
smcin 2y ago
The first person in the murder-for-hire allegations 'FriendlyChemist' was an undercover DEA agent or informant, and it's strongly possible none of the other people existed. It's also conjectured the hitman account 'Redandwhite' was being operated by the same DEA agent [*]. Moreover the bitcoin DPR sent the supposed hitman 'Redandwhite' sat in the wallet from 3/2013 till 8/2013, "which alone should have tipped out DPR about a possible scam" ie. that the killing never happened [0]. DPR never requested any confirmation pictures of at least 5 of the (fictitious) killings, nor was there any Canadian media coverage to suggest anyone got assassinated on the supposed dates. The US Attorneys made a lot of publicity out of the murder-for-hire conspiracy allegations against Ulbricht in their indictments and in pre-trial media ("although there is no evidence that these murders were actually carried out." as the indictment itself obliquely says). Ulbricht's defense could have come up with a plausible alternative explanations that he knew redandwhite was a scammer trying to extort him with a story involving nonexistent people, and was just playing along with him for whatever reasons. [*] If the prosecution had not actually dropped those charges at trial, it would have been confirmed at trial which of the six identities were fictitious/nonexistent and whether all the accounts were managed by the same DEA agents. Hard to imagine that at least one juror wouldn't have formed a skeptical opinion about government agents extorting a person to conspire to kill fictitious people (why didn't the indictment just focus on nailing him on the lesser charges?). If this wasn't a Turing Test on when is an alleged conspiracy not a real conspiracy, then someday soon we'll see one. ArsTechnica covered these facts in 2015: [0]: "The hitman scam: Dread Pirate Roberts’ bizarre murder-for-hire attempts. On the darkweb, no one is who they seem." 2/2015 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-dread-pirate-roberts-bizarre-murder-for-hire-attempts/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-... [1]: Silk Road’s alleged hitman, “redandwhite,” arrested in Vancouver https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/11/silk-roads-alleged-hitman-redandwhite-arrested-in-vancouver/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/11/silk-roads-alleg...
- stefan_ 2y ago
  99% of paid hitmen were and are just cops. They catch plenty of people with real plans all the same.
  - 2y ago
cwillu 2y ago
That's a nice end-run around “innocent until proven guilty”: they didn't have to prove anything about those allegations beyond making them, because he wasn't charged with them.

simonsarris 2y ago

This opinion (after appeal) also details how they taken into consideration with sentencing. See pages 130-131 https://pbwt2.gjassets.com/content/uploads/2017/05/15-1815_opn.pdf https://pbwt2.gjassets.com/content/uploads/2017/05/15-1815_o...

srj 2y ago

It's surprising to me that the prosecutor is allowed to essentially insinuate crimes to influence the jury, without the need to prove them. That seems to undermine the process because it creates a "there's smoke so there must be fire" mentality for the jury.

tveita 2y ago
There was plenty of evidence that he ordered the hits, and the defense had the opportunity to address the evidence in court. The chat logs go far beyond "insinuation" It's ridiculous that people are pretending there is any doubt about his guilt because they like crypto and/or drugs.
- echoangle 2y ago
  So why not properly charge him then? Do you not think the optics are a bit weird when you sentence someone to life for something relatively small, but the reason is another crime you’re very sure he did but you didn’t bother to charge him with?
  - tveita 2y ago
    Being a drug kingpin is not considered "something relatively small" under US law, as you can see from the sentencing. Being the leader of a large drug operation and ordering hits to protect your business would be considered worse than trying to take out a hit for whatever "personal reasons". Obviously the hits are a lot messier to prosecute as well with the misconduct of the FBI agents, maybe you could hammer that enough to confuse a jury. But people are commenting like the evidence outright didn't exist - I can only think they have either heard it told second-hand, or are employing motivated reasoning.
  - olalonde 2y ago
    Prosecutors often choose not to pursue additional charges against someone already serving a life sentence. This approach helps avoid wasting court time and resources on cases that are unlikely to change the individual’s circumstances or contribute meaningfully to justice (none of the murders for hire resulted in victims). I actually wonder if those charges may still be on the table now that a pardon has been granted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutorial_discretion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutorial_discretion
    - philjohn 2y ago
      AFAIK they were dismissed with prejudice, so can't be brought again.
      - olalonde 2y ago
        If I understand correctly, only one of the "murder-for-hire" allegations was dismissed with prejudice[0]. However, he was suspected of orchestrating a total of six "murder-for-hire" plots. [0] https://freeross.org/false-allegations/ https://freeross.org/false-allegations/
      - myko 2y ago
        Comically (horrifically sadly?) they were dismissed that way because he was already in prison for life with no possibility of getting out, so the court did not want to waste time on it. And here we are
- lII1lIlI11ll 2y ago
  Of course it is. Throwing in potential evidence of unrelated crimes to sway other people's (specifically jury's) opinion about the defendant without formally charging him is exactly what the word "insinuation" means[0]: the action of suggesting, without being direct, that something unpleasant is true [0]: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/insinuation https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/insinuat...
- sebzim4500 2y ago
  > There was plenty of evidence that he ordered the hits, and the defense had the opportunity to address the evidence in court Clearly not that much evidence if the state didn't bother to prosecute those charges. And why would they? The judge sentenced him as though he had been found guilty of them.
RetpolineDrama 2y ago
It's a gross miscarriage of justice. The gov should have to prove you committed a crime before that information is admissible at sentencing.
jari_mustonen 2y ago
Coincidentally, on the same day, SCOTUS confirmed in Andrew v. White ruling [1] that admitting prejudicial evidence violates due process rights under the 14th Amendment. 1. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-6573_m647.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-6573_m647.pdf

smcin 2y ago

The first person in the murder-for-hire allegations 'FriendlyChemist' was an undercover DEA agent or informant, and it's strongly possible none of the other people existed. It's also conjectured the hitman account 'Redandwhite' was being operated by the same DEA agent [*]. Moreover the bitcoin DPR sent the supposed hitman 'Redandwhite' sat in the wallet from 3/2013 till 8/2013, "which alone should have tipped out DPR about a possible scam" ie. that the killing never happened [0]. DPR never requested any confirmation pictures of at least 5 of the (fictitious) killings, nor was there any Canadian media coverage to suggest anyone got assassinated on the supposed dates. The US Attorneys made a lot of publicity out of the murder-for-hire conspiracy allegations against Ulbricht in their indictments and in pre-trial media ("although there is no evidence that these murders were actually carried out." as the indictment itself obliquely says). Ulbricht's defense could have come up with a plausible alternative explanations that he knew redandwhite was a scammer trying to extort him with a story involving nonexistent people, and was just playing along with him for whatever reasons. [*] If the prosecution had not actually dropped those charges at trial, it would have been confirmed at trial which of the six identities were fictitious/nonexistent and whether all the accounts were managed by the same DEA agents. Hard to imagine that at least one juror wouldn't have formed a skeptical opinion about government agents extorting a person to conspire to kill fictitious people (why didn't the indictment just focus on nailing him on the lesser charges?). If this wasn't a Turing Test on when is an alleged conspiracy not a real conspiracy, then someday soon we'll see one. ArsTechnica covered these facts in 2015: [0]: "The hitman scam: Dread Pirate Roberts’ bizarre murder-for-hire attempts. On the darkweb, no one is who they seem." 2/2015 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-dread-pirate-roberts-bizarre-murder-for-hire-attempts/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-... [1]: Silk Road’s alleged hitman, “redandwhite,” arrested in Vancouver https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/11/silk-roads-alleged-hitman-redandwhite-arrested-in-vancouver/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/11/silk-roads-alleg...

stefan_ 2y ago
99% of paid hitmen were and are just cops. They catch plenty of people with real plans all the same.
- 2y ago

cwillu 2y ago

That's a nice end-run around “innocent until proven guilty”: they didn't have to prove anything about those allegations beyond making them, because he wasn't charged with them.