Ross Ulbricht Prepares for Appeal of Silk Road VerdictBy Derrick Broze I was present for the trial and the sentencing, as a freelance journalist and supporter of Ross Ulbricht and the ideas upon which the Silk Road was founded. Newsweek wrote the following regarding the sentencing of Ulbricht: As a federal marshal marched Ulbricht out a side door, a young man in black dreadlocks shouted, Ross is a hero! Derrick Broze, a member of the Houston Free Thinkers, came to New York for this trial, part of a group of self-styled anarcho-libertarians who squeezed into the courtroom every day. Ulbrichts defense team was stifled every step of the way by Judge Forrest. The judge denied pertinent witnesses and testimony, allowed evidence which painted Ross Ulbricht in a negative light, and overall seemed to be making a political statement regarding Ulbrichts political philosophy and goals. Before issuing Ulbrichts sentence, she told the defendant that it is deeply troubling that you see the law as oppressive. Now Ulbrichts defense team is finally getting to make their arguments. On January 12th Ulbrichts team filed a 145-page appeal asking a higher court to overturn Judge Forrests decision. The defense team makes several arguments in their appeal, namely that the actions of two former undercover federal agents may have tainted the investigation, that Ulbrichts fifth and sixth amendment was unfairly violated, and that he cannot be held responsible for deaths resulting from drugs purchased on the Silk Road website. The major point of contention comes from the discovery that two former federal agents stole hundreds of thousands of dollars during their investigation of the Silk Road. The two defendants are Carl Force, a former special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Shaun Bridges, a former Secret Service special agent. Force and Bridges were assigned to a task force based in Baltimore investigating Silk Road. Force was the lead investigator working undercover, and Bridges was a computer forensics expert working on the case. These men were ultimately convicted of stealing bitcoins from the site and extorting Ulbricht by posing as a drug dealer. Force plead guilty and got six and a half years in July 2015, while Bridges received just under six years in prison. In the appeal Ulbrichts lead attorney Joshua Dratel writes, To a significant degree the extent, and in some respects the nature, of Forces misconductas well as Bridgess participation altogetherwas hidden by the government from the defense (and the Court) in this case until after trial. Contrary to the governments claims and the Courts decision, the evidence of Forces (and Bridgess) corruption was both material and exculpatory. Dratel argues that the court abused its discretion and denied Ulbricht his constitutional rights to a fair trial by precluding the defense from using the evidence relating to Forces corruption and denying Ulbrichts motion for a new trial based on that evidence. As Wired notes: Even before Ulbrichts conviction, Dratel had already asked Judge Katherine Forrest for a mistrialand was rejectedno less than five times over the course of the trial in January and February of 2015. The appeal brief repeats several of those complaints, including the defenses protest of Forrests decision that Dratel couldnt cross-examine prosecution witnesses in detail about alternative suspects theyd discussed as possible owners or administrators of the Silk Road. Dratel also reiterates an argument the defense made in pre-trial hearings: that Ulbrichts laptop was searched with an overly broad warrant, and that his online accounts were tracked with a warrantless pen register that violated his fourth amendment privacy rights. And he criticizes Judge Forrests decision not to admit a statement from a Silk Road staffer who had written that he believed multiple people had run the Silk Road under a single pseudonym, the Dread Pirate Roberts, implying that Ulbricht wasnt the sole administrator of the site. Ulbrichts appeal says that he should be re-sentenced with a different judge to avoid the irremediable taint from the improper factors the Court considered. In a recent interview with selfnews Post Lyn Ulbricht discussed the importance of the Silk Road trial. This case isnt just about one man or website. It is going to determine much about how we go forward into the digital age. It addresses some very important precedents and issues that could impact all of us. There is a fourth amendment question, the question of the US seizing a server in a foreign country without a warrant. and the type of warrant they used to seize Rosss laptop, among others. They used mostly digital evidence in this trial. Whether or not you believe their evidenceit significantly lowers the standard of evidence at trials. Digital material can be created out of nothing. It doesnt take much imagination to see how this is a threat to us all. Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist, community activist, gardener and promoter from Houston, Texas. He is the co-founder of The Houston Free Thinkers, and co-host of Free Thinker Radio. Broze also hosts and produces a weekly podcast under the name the Conscious Resistance Live. His writing can be found on his websiteTheConsciousResistance.com, selfnews Post, and other independent media sources. This article is open source and may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link. 