For those who haven’t heard the tragic news, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht was convicted by a federal jury on all counts yesterday in a trial that many observers have called unfair.
Here’s a pointed response to the decision from prominent liberty activist Carla Gericke:
To say the “jury has spoken” is a misnomer of note in a show trial stuffed with kangaroos. The jurors were handpicked by the prosecution to be favorable to the state: ignorant people who worked for/are sympathetic to government, people who don’t understand the Internet (and who were specifically instructed not to do any research on their own during the trial). Jurors who received juror information pamphlets, which included information about jurors right to nullify, were dismissed.
The prosecution filed a motion to suppress any testimony of Ross’s libertarian philosophy, stating the state feared if a jury heard his morally-based motivations for creating a truly free market platform, the jury would nullify; and we couldn’t have that now could we? The prosecution also never disclosed, and the judge did not require the state to show how information in the case was obtained. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it was not through constitutional means.
But what about those “murder for hire” charges? What about them? The state did not charge him with that in the end, they only *used it* to poison the well of support initially, and to refuse bail, meaning Ross has already been in jail for more than a year, “celebrating” his 30th birthday there. The information about the “murder for hire” allegations came from a confidential informant, you know, a government sanctioned rat. There are no bodies. Literally, no one died. I believe those unsubstantiated claims were concocted by the state for the exact purposes they eventually served: casting aspersions, and destroying support for Ross’s plight.
In the end, this case is about an entrepreneur who created a product that made people safer by connecting willing buyers with willing sellers in voluntary exchange. That entrepreneur now faces 30 years to life in jail. I have said for a long time now there is no real rule of law left in the USA–meaning, if they want to get you, they will get you by whatever means necessary–and this case is simply one more glaring example. We do not live in a just or moral society. Justice was not served. Ross Ulbricht is a hero. I hope he gets more support on appeal. #freeross
Further Reading:
Reaction from Ulbricht’s Defense Attorney: Reason Magazine – Silk Road Trial Over: Ross Ulbricht Found Guilty on All 7 Counts
Counterpoint: Lions of Liberty – Ross Ulbricht is NOT a Hero
