Re: Ross Ulbricht faces a potential life sentence starting tomorrow.
He is likely to get sentenced but he will appeal.
Well, all convicted criminals appeal their sentence, usually with little to no success.
He is indicted in a murder-for-hire in Maryland additionaly, which can still be used.
"Ulbricht allegedly agreed to pay $80,000 for the hit, half in advance and half when he had "proof" it was done.
But he was dealing with an undercover agent (UC) the whole time, and the authorities fooled him with staged images:
On or about February 21, 2013, Ross Ulbricht communicated with the UC via the Internet, to discuss the murder of the Employee. The UC told Ross Ulbricht that the Employee "died of asphyxiation/heart rupture" while being tortured. Via the Internet, the UC transmitted a staged photograph that purported to depict the Employee's dead body.
Ulbricht, upon receipt of the fake picture, then wired the other $40,000. "I'm pissed I had to kill him but what's done is done," he said, according to the indictment." - http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-murder-plot-indictment.html
It is horrible if he really did that but I think we don't have all the needed informations to make a clear judgment in this case.
Why not pay in Bitcoin, instead of wiring money
And why send the money before verifying by other means that the dude died, since the image might be faked
If it is true he deserves the prize of dumbest criminal of the recent history