> When the court give out harsh punishment, they also de-incentivize the next person from limiting the scope to only drugs. [...] Why not hire or even sell hitmen, you can't get into more problem if they get you.
One of the factors in the life sentence was that evidence was presented in the trial that Ulbricht did not limit the scope of his enterprise "to only drugs", and that elements of the enterprise included trying to hire a hitman to eliminate problems.
So, I think that this case stands for exactly the opposite proposition than "hiring hitmen won't get you into more trouble than restricting your crime to just drugs".
