The convicted Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is currently seeking a retrial based on the assumption that he was denied his fifth amendment right.
Last month, the 29-year old internet entrepreneur was found guilty of charges related to his active involvement in running Silk Road — an online drug marketplace. He was also held guilty for executing computer hacking conspiracies, and committing narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
In its motion filed in New York federal court, Ulbricht’s defense however accused the government of failing to “provide exculpatory material and information in a timely manner,” an alleged fact that subsequently enables him to pull out a new retrial.
According to the filed document, the prosecutors delayed to submit a 5000-page evidence that could have proven Ulbricht’s innocence from the scratch. One of the excerpts from these pages also mentioned an “alternative perpetrator” that could have been headed Silk Road after all. As the aforesaid evidence was submitted only two weeks before the trial, the defense couldn’t utilize it effectively.
Ever since the Silk Road trial came to en end, it was termed as highly unfair by the internet libertarians. Many Ulbricht supporters questioned Judge Forrest’s decision of prohibiting the introduction of the defendant’s political beliefs, followed by the decision of not revealing the witnesses. This decision left the defense impotent enough to question undercover agent Jared Der-Yeghiyan who once believed that Mark Karpeles was the actual operator of Silk Road.
She also unfairly warned to award confinement to those who were seeking jurors to practice their rights of Jury Nullification — a decision which excuses the accused from criminal charges even though he is found of guilty of committing them.
Ulbricht is currently slated to be sentenced on May 15th.