Lawyer: San Francisco man not guilty at Silk Road trial

  • By Larry Neumeister Associated Press
  • Tuesday, February 3, 2015 1:21pm
  • Business

NEW YORK — A defense lawyer has told jurors in a closing argument that a San Francisco man who created the underground website Silk Road is not guilty of charges he operated an online drug-dealing network.

Attorney Joshua Dratel said Tuesday that there’s enough reasonable doubt to exonerate 30-year-old Ross William Ulbricht.

Dratel said evidence made it clear his client was not someone who operated online as Dread Pirate Roberts, a reference to the swashbuckling character in “The Princess Bride.”

He spoke after a prosecutor told jurors in Manhattan federal court that the evidence was overwhelming. He urged jurors to follow Ulbricht’s “digital fingerprints” to convict him.

If convicted, Ulbricht could face life in prison.

Prosecutors say the website operated from January 2011 through September 2013, earning Ulbricht $18 million.

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