It's been Two Years Since Ross Ulbricht got a Life Sentence
Two years ago yesterday was the worst day of my life. On that day our son, Ross Ulbricht, was given a double life sentence for all non-violent charges. Despite slander in the media, Ross was not charged at trial with murder-for-hire and it has never been proven. No victims came forward in court to say Ross had harmed them in any way. Yet Judge Forrest considers Ross so dangerous that he needs to die in a cage.
Ross once said to me: “Mom, a life sentence is really a death sentence. It just takes longer.”
Judge Forrest handed down what is essentially a death sentence to “send a message” to others who might build a dark web marketplace. This failed attempt at deterrence has, according to research, actually boosted dark net sales, which have more than doubled since the sentencing.
Four months after Ross was sentenced I came within minutes of suddenly dying of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, commonly known as Broken Heart Syndrome. It is caused from acute grief or stress and can kill even a healthy heart like mine. By God’s grace I survived with no lasting damage, but am a (thankfully) living example of how cruel and unrestrained treatment by the government can harm, or kill, not only the accused but also their loved ones. This includes the 2.9 million American children of incarcerated parents. Over two-thirds of these parents – like Ross – are non-violent, mostly drug offenders.
Judge Forrest’s excessive sentence was widely criticized, both in and out of the legal community. Former federal judge Nancy Gertner joined Ross’ appeal, along with Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and JustLeadershipUSA to challenge it. Criminal defense lawyer Scott Greenfield wrote in his blog:
"The mandatory minimum was twenty years. Twenty years… is a very long time… It’s a generation, to give it some context.
Two life sentences plus, a brutal sentence for someone “no better a person than any other drug dealer.” But then, his crime wasn’t being a drug dealer. Not even profiting off other people who were drug dealers. Not even facilitating other people’s drug deals. No, no, no. Sure, all that was involved, but that was not what bought him life.
This was:
'[A]nd in breaking that ground as the first person he had to be punished accordingly.'
As for Ulbricht, a twenty year sentence would have been more than sufficient to serve any legitimate purpose. In twenty years from now, no one will remember why they put some kid in a cell forever, as somewhere on the dark web, if not openly on a street corner, there will be heroin for sale."
Ross is appealing his sentence, along with his convictions. I never dreamed I’d be hoping and praying for our son to have a chance at a 20-year prison sentence, but that’s where this has brought me and my family. At least with that Ross would have some life left.
Please keep Ross in your thoughts and prayers as we wait for the ruling of the appellate court.
As an American living in Australia, I've been amazed by how short the prison sentences are here. The maximum drug trafficking sentence is 5 years. Even murderers get a maximum of 25 years (still not sure about that one). I find that Australians are much more compassionate towards prisoners and work hard to help them once they're out. It has helped me to see how unjust the US system is.
I'm really sorry for what you and your family are going through, and especially Ross.
Thank you. They made sure he was tried in NY, the worst place in the US for justice.
I think the primary difference is profit motive. In the USA there is a HUGE incentive to have an endless supply of prisoners not only to fuel private prison corporations, the logistical suppliers, law enforcement, and most importantly, USA's answer to China's sweat shops, prison labor. In prison, prisoners work for pennies producing goods sold on the open market. There is such a massive prison industrial complex in the USA, over 1% of our entire population is incarcerated. Slavery never really ended here, it just changed form.
Well put.
Completely agree and this is even before getting into the problem of for-profit prisons.
Where human beings are inventory. But the government prisons are a racket too.
Yeah that sucks. Very unjust.
God bless Ross and your entire family. There is no justice anymore! I pray his appeal goes well.
That's a sick story. Disgusting heavy-handed and missing the point. This judge must be the kind of asshole that things weed makes people rapists, yet a rapist won't even get a life sentence. Or what about the millions of crooked doctors and drug companies that lobby to block medicinal cannabis in favor of peddling addictive opiates that send people on a spiral towards heroin addiction and overdose.
Your son was a visionary who made the world a safer place. His legacy is the Dark Net Markets. Fewer guns on street corners, cleaner drugs (thanks to crowd funded lab testing and dealer reputation). He had a peaceful answer to the war on drugs, and the establishment did not like that.
Now we have the fentanyl crisis and they blame the users, as if they can stop using. No. It's not the users' fault, it's the prohibitionists' fault. The government's fault. The tyrants who know that demand will always be met, but will not allow it to be met by the safest, cleanest, and most peaceful means possible, because they are owned by the prisons and unions, owned by the pharmaceuticals, who lobby tirelessly to keep harmless plants and chemicals out of people's hands while simultaneously filling those hands with addictive, deadly opiates.
My only reservations about the case were the revelations regarding murders for hire (obviously, who can support that). If those accusations are false then your son is a political prisoner. History will record a martyr. The War on Drugs has ruined so many lives, and transferred so much wealth from the bottom to the top. It is the biggest lie in history.
Gary Webb exposed that the FBI obliterated inner cities with cocaine in order to finance terrorism. His punishment was "suicide" by two gun shots to the head. Quite a feat, for a dead man to pull a trigger. Do as they say, not as they do.
One day your son will be a free man. Society will recognize this hypocrisy once enough television-brain-washed baby boomers are gone. There will be a pivot. This sentence is cruel and unusual punishment. It does not fit the "crime", if you can call opening a free marketplace a crime.
I think Ross is paying life sentence, just to prove that Freedom exists, that must be exercised by each and every one of us, the reality is that he is not in that situation because of drug trafficking or anything like that
Thinking about Ross's case leads you to conclude that it could be any of us who receive such a prison sentence
From Venezuela receive my respects and my greetings.
Thank you. Yes, it's political and frightening.
Sad story I hope one day you find happiness
Thank you
People sometimes get less for murder in the U.S..
Ross is a political prisoner, who needed to be punished to set an example and to protect government control of the common man. This is how tyranny works.
what a nice article. resteemed.
I remember reading about this, and at the time, thinking what a failure of our criminal system. " Sending a message" by overly punishing a smart young non violent person is absolutely rediculous. It still makes no sence to me how they came up with a double life sentence :(
It doesn't make sense. Other judges don't do that.
My cryptography class watched the documentary in class and man, what BS! Best of luck and God Bless!
Please spread the word!