End Judicial Findings

What if you were acquitted but they imprisoned you anyway?

Where did judicial findings come from?

Judicial findings are a power judges created out of thin air. It means that acquitted or uncharged conduct can be treated as a relevant “finding” at sentencing. This power has been consitently abused. Here’s an example…

How judicial findings imprisoned Ross Ulbricht for life.

Ross Ulbricht made national news when he was pardoned in the first days of the Trump administration. Ross created Silk Road which didn’t ban the sale of contraband items. Needless to say, federal police didn’t like that.

The DEA collected evidence without a warrant and accused Ulbricht of being a drug “kingpin,” even though no goods ever crossed his hands. His site was merely a marketplace.

The DEA also accused Ulbricht of contracting for a hit on a customer who stiffed Silk Road for several hundred thousand dollars. But no murder happened. No charge of attempted murder was tried in court. But the mere allegation of a supposed plan to murder was used by the judge, in a judicial finding, to sentence Ross Ulbricht to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Most legal scholars agreed that the sentence was too harsh and that judicial findings trash the concept of due process. How do you get two life sentences for NOT committing murder? How do you get two life sentences for charges that were never tried in court? Still, appeals in other courts confirmed the sentence. This is a classic example of why we must support the following effort…

Five Senators are pushing a bill to end judicial findings.

A Republican Senator, a Democratic Senator, a Democratic Representative, and a Republican Representative have (in the recent past) introduced the Prohibiting Punishment Of Acquitted Conduct Act. In the last session of Congress, it was introduced as S.2788 & H.R. 5430. We seek its reintroduction in this new Congress. This bill would make so-called “judicial findings” statutorily illegal.

Here’s how we’ll pass this reform

The 300

Three hundred constituents will visit your local congressional offices in constant waves of 3, 5, or 6 people. Similar groups of 300 will be at work in every congressional district. This should cause a majority of representatives to cosponsor this bill.

Option Activism

You “take an option” on something when you make a commitment that doesn’t have to be fulfilled until certain conditions are met. Option Activism means that you won’t have to do anything until doing something is sure to work. In this case…

• No local meetings will be scheduled until all 300 people are committed.
• You can go at a time convenient to you.
• You won’t have to speak much unless you want to.
• The bill will pass, and the world will change when a majority in Congress co-sponsors it.

Set the agenda for Congress. Become an Agenda Setter. Join The 300 by filling out this form…