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Chapter 70
SENTENCING
Judge Katherine Forrest sat in her chambers for a moment before placing the long black robe over
her shoulders and making her way to courtroom 15A. The jury had found Ross Ulbricht guilty,
and it was time for her to hand down the sentence.
In the weeks leading up to the sentencing, the prosecution and the defense had implored the judge
to take one path or another. Ross’s family and friends wrote long and thoughtful letters begging for his
release or, at the very least, the shortest sentence possible. Lyn had written to Judge Forrest, as a
mother, begging for mercy. “I beseech you to make his sentence no longer than necessary and give
Ross the chance to rectify his mistakes.”
Ross had even written to the judge himself, explaining that he knew now that jail was not an easy
place to live in and that, while losing his freedom had been painful, the pain he had inflicted on his
family had been catastrophic. He was naive; he regretted his actions; he hadn’t thought through what
he was doing when he started the Silk Road. Then, toward the end of his letter, Ross pleaded for
leniency. “I’ve had my youth, and I know you must take away my middle years, but please leave me
my old age.”
Courtroom 15A was so full on the afternoon of May 29, 2015, that another spillover courtroom
was set up with a live video feed of the proceedings. Metal detectors had been placed outside for
added security after an online vigilante had published the judge’s personal information online,
including her home address, together with a note that read: “Fuck this stupid bitch and I hope some
drug cartel that lost a lot of money with the seizure of silk road will murder this lady and her entire
family.”
The prosecution presented its argument for a sentence longer than twenty years. They had flown
out the parents of some of the young teens and adults who had overdosed and died from drugs they
had purchased on the Silk Road, including the mother of Preston Bridges, who wept as she told the
story of the last time she ever saw her son, the night he went off to his Year 12 Ball in Perth,
Australia.
The defense rebutted with “character witnesses” who had known Ross since he was a child,
people who told stories of his altruism and his kindness. And then Ross stood up and spoke himself.
“One of the things I have realized about the law is that the laws of nature are much like the laws of