The Community Responds on the Day Before the Sentencing of Ross Ulbricht

In a letter to Judge Katherine Forrest, Ross Ulbricht will plead for leniency at his May 29 sentencing following his conviction for the crime of being the owner and operator of the Silk Road online marketplace.
“Even now I understand what a terrible mistake I made. I’ve had my youth, and I know you must take away my middle years, but please leave me my old age.’
– Ross Ulbricht in a letter to Judge Forrest
The 31-year-old Ulbricht faces a mandatory minimum 20 years in prison and a maximum of life. He was found guilty on all seven felony counts based on being the creator of the anonymous online marketplace, under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR).
Ulbricht will be sentenced at 1:00 p.m. EST in Judge Forrest’s courtroom at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in New York City. The charges are all non-violent. Ulbricht says in his letter that the Silk Road was ‘supposed to be about giving people the freedom to make their own choices and pursue their own happiness.’
Prosecutors in his trial sent the judge a 16-page letter requesting that Ulbricht be given ‘a lengthy sentence at his judgment on Friday, one substantially above the mandatory minimum.’ The Department of Justice attorneys contend the motivation is to ‘send a clear message’ to the Dark Web drug market.
Many in the crypto environment have been vocal about the case, which they see as an issue that is far bigger than Bitcoin. They believe the drug war is a fraud and that our Internet freedoms are at stake.

This post was published at Coin Telegraph on 2015-05-28.