When sentencing, the judge was also allowed to consider murder-for-hire charges, even though they were never charged at trial. “Until the Supreme Court decides otherwise, these types of related but uncharged crimes can be and are routinely considered by judges,” says Richman.
Albrecht has never fully acknowledged the damage caused by Silk Road’s extensive drug sales, which included heroin and other opiates, and has shown little remorse for his actions in his public posts on Twitter. There are, argues Jared Der-Yegian, former Homeland Security Investigations. agent infiltrating the Silk Road as part of the case against Albrecht.
“The idea of its release doesn’t bother me at all,” says Der-Yeghiayan, who now works as head of strategic intelligence at cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis. “I am concerned if there is now a perception that he did nothing wrong, which does not recognize the facts of the case.”
Given that Albrecht has already spent 11 years in prison, however, the question remains whether this wrongdoing merits a life sentence. While Albrecht’s harsh sentence may be technically correct, says Lisa Garber, a law lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, in such complex cases, the legal questions are not neatly separated from the moral and political questions. can be done
“Just because something is reasonable, doesn’t mean it’s right,” says Garber. “We have such complex and conflicting ideas about the war on drugs and the use of prisons in this country. Combine that with the idea that this crime is partially committed in cyberspace, and it gets very messy. The problems. It is difficult to calculate this confluence of
Some prison reform advocates, many of whom support Albrecht’s clemency bid, believe sentencing laws need to be changed. He believes the emphasis should be on rehabilitation rather than retribution and that parole should be reintroduced into the federal criminal system. They hope Albrecht’s release can act as a catalyst.
“Ross has served too much time. He’s been a model inmate. He’s a first-time, non-violent offender. He poses zero safety risk to the community,” Ellis, CEO of the justice reform foundation Taking Action for Good. said Johnson, who spent two decades in prison for drug trafficking before being sentenced to life in prison by Trump in 2018. Ross’ case is going to pave the way for many others who have been unjustly given harsh sentences to come home.
