The hierarchy of power:

              -- Reddit mod --
         ---------- God -----------
    ------------ Elon Musk ------------
-------------- US President --------------

I have seen this repeated multiple times on Lemmy. When I look this up, I find:

• Dismissal with prejudice: https://freeross.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Doc_14_Dismissal_Indictment_7-26-2018.pdf
• The DEA agent responsible for this entrapment sentenced to prison for corruption: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-dea-agent-sentenced-extortion-money-laundering-and-obstruction-related-silk-road
• The target of the alleged crime (Curtis Green) advocating for Ross and claiming that his own messages were altered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0w8aOK1NRE
• The fact that the payments to the hitmen were made via bank wire transfer: https://imgur.com/why-would-dpr-send-easily-tracked-80k-wire-transfer-hit-when-he-did-all-other-business-bitcoin-PEozMNM

So, the charges are dismissed with prejudice, the DEA agent imprisoned for corruption, the alleged victim testifies in his favor. What makes the other narrative compelling? I see people citing the court document in which the claims were made… But what is the value of that document if the result was a dismissal with prejudice? Shouldn’t that support the innocence narrative?

I am genuinely curious. I’m not necessarily advocating his innocence, I want to understand what other people know that makes them so convinced that he is guilty of this.

Hmm… Wouldn’t be so sure. Some librarians have the power to selectively forgive late fees. They can give preferential treatment depending on their mood or the politeness of the person. You might also bribe a librarian to let you take out books from the special collection.