Jared Der-Yeghiayan described DPR chats and account screens on Ulbricht's laptop, then faced cross-examination about shared credentials and earlier suspicions involving Mark Karpeles. The court deferred rulings on disputed Karpeles evidence and addressed a juror's encounter with a reporter, later reported to concern an unrelated article.
Full day summary
Jared Der-Yeghiayan completed direct examination with testimony about PGP signatures and the laptop seized from Ulbricht at the library. He said its screen showed the DPR conversation he had conducted minutes earlier. Photographs also showed staff chat and a support login displaying Dread Pirate Roberts. His PGP demonstration linked selected posts to the same key, but the court barred an inference that one person necessarily used it. Jurors received a limiting instruction that recovered notes and forum posts were admitted to show the words appearing on the pages, not their truth.
On cross-examination, Der-Yeghiayan agreed that private keys and passwords could be shared or stolen and acknowledged earlier doubts about whether the person operating as DPR had changed. Dratel examined the agent's prior suspicions involving Mark Karpeles and Ashley Barr. Der-Yeghiayan acknowledged that he had been prepared to swear, based on connections listed in a draft search affidavit, that probable cause linked Karpeles to Silk Road's leadership.
Outside the jury's presence, the court deferred a definitive ruling on a reported offer by Karpeles' attorneys to identify the operator in exchange for leniency. Dratel argued that it supported the defense theory that Karpeles had set up Ulbricht; the government raised hearsay, reliability, and notice objections. The court's comments about possible reliability were expressly tentative. It also requested briefing before resolving broader limits on the Karpeles questioning. Separately, its co-conspirator ruling on narcotics screenshots rested on a preponderance standard and remained subject to connecting DPR to Ulbricht at the relevant time.
Juror No. 2 said she walked away from someone claiming to represent the New York Post and denied any effect on her impartiality. The court later reported that the approach apparently concerned an unrelated article. It warned against press contact with jurors but imposed no exclusion. The jury was released until Tuesday.