The convicted operator of the world’s most notorious online drug marketplace is hours away from being sentenced.

Silk Road baron Ross Ulbricht, who has had its share of thrills and emotional eruptions during the entire case, has made every inch of efforts to receive a certain leniency from the US District Judge, Judge Katherine Forrest. He lately wrote her a one-page letter, asking to leave him his old age and grant him a minimum sentence — in this case, 20 years. Excerpt:

“I’ve had my youth, and I know you must take away my middle years, but please leave me my old age. Please leave a small light at the end of the tunnel, an excuse to stay healthy, an excuse to dream of better days ahead, and a chance to redeem myself in the free world before I meet my maker.”

On the other hand, it is certain that the legal prosecutors are leaving no-stone-unturned to make an example out of Ross Ulbricht. They have reportedly sought the strictest punishment for the 31-year old internet entrepreneur — a lifetime sentence — for acting as a drug kingpin of an “online black market of unprecedented scope.”

The office of Preet Bharara, a US attorney and prosecutor of the Silk Road case, has already said that Ulbricht deserves more-than-just 20 years.

“Ulbricht bears responsibility for the overdoses, addictions and other foreseeable repercussions of the illegal drugs sold on Silk Road,” they wrote. “It does not matter that he did not personally handle those drugs; neither would a traditional kingpin.” But as per Ulbricht’s words, he never foresighted his idea of liberalism to assist drug addictions. He always wanted to create a platform where people have the independence to make their own choices. Silk Road’s rapid transformation into a narcotics website damaged the idea, and Ulbricht eventually. It is now up to Judge Forrest to see whether an amateur drug site operator must be jailed for lifetime, or be shown a way where he could utilize his talents for the better of community. Its rage vs reason, in the end.