To me what is weird is the "complete" pardon from a president that is supposedly going after immigrant drug dealers and murderers.
Basically, if you've done something wrong, but can drum up enough support for the winning political candidate, you get a chance to cut a deal and wipe the slate clean.
To those that say he's rehabilitated etc, I'm sure there were other worthy prisoners too, but why does this particular guy happen to get the pardon on day one?!
Same with the pardoned capitol rioters.
It just feels like a very slippery downwards slope, where political back scratching trumps everything else.
He did also try to get someone killed. It didn't happen, but can you see how the non violent guy was slowly turning to violence too?
I'm sure the initial narco kingpins were nice, non-violent people too, but rarely do the people involved with supplying drugs stay that way - regardless of whether you're Pablo Escobar or just some kid peddling weed in a sleepy village in the south of France.
> rarely do the people involved with supplying drugs stay that way
I'm really intrigued how people can say these things like they're facts. That's really happening a lot more nowadays. It's an opinion you have.
Or am I wrong, and do you have a source or personal account of some kid in a sleepy village in the south of france?
Or could it be that the people who DO stay that way don't reach the media, because they DO stay that way?
One example that stands out: I was playing pool in a quiet bar in a sleepy village. The next thing I know, a sixteen year old walks in and attacks another 16 year old. They are at each others throats, smashing cues on each other and throwing pool balls at each other. They are absolutely battered and bleeding by the end of it. One of the kids was the barman's son. As they finish their fight and are dragged out, another barman says to me "there's no need for that in here" and adds "you know what it's all about - who owed who money for drugs".
I think it was a pretty quick transformation. One half of the LucyDrop account threatened to leak real-world names, because he was threatened over deals his partner made out of his control. Plan A for Ross was to arrange real-world harm.
That was never proven. A key reason why that was never proven was because a proven, as in proven beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted, corrupt federal agent had access to everything needed to fabricate the extremely limited evidence they used to insinuate it.
Do you know how rarely LEOs getting convicted of anything? If there wasn't a mountain of evidence that Ulbricht ran the silk road, the entire case might have been rereparable tainted.
Regardless, but my point stands - he was heading down a bad path.
Quoting from Wikipedia: The district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ulbricht probably commissioned the murders.[41] The possibility that Ulbricht had commissioned murders was considered by the judge in sentencing Ulbricht to life and was a factor in the Second Circuit's decision to uphold the sentence.
That's why commutation is a thing. The courts have ruled this as within the pardon powers. His sentence could be changed to reflect something much more aligned with other convictions for the same crimes.
Commutation is not considered during sentencing or mandatory minimums or anything like that. It's only an option for very popular cases and even then it's rare.
It’s not expunged but you have a letter from the president saying you shouldn’t have been convicted in the first place. The meaning is different even thought the legal outcomes are the same.
