Basically, if you've done something wrong, but can drum up enough support for the winning political candidate, you get a chance to cut a deal and wipe the slate clean.
To those that say he's rehabilitated etc, I'm sure there were other worthy prisoners too, but why does this particular guy happen to get the pardon on day one?!
Same with the pardoned capitol rioters.
It just feels like a very slippery downwards slope, where political back scratching trumps everything else.
I'm sure the initial narco kingpins were nice, non-violent people too, but rarely do the people involved with supplying drugs stay that way - regardless of whether you're Pablo Escobar or just some kid peddling weed in a sleepy village in the south of France.
Quoting from Wikipedia: The district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ulbricht probably commissioned the murders.[41] The possibility that Ulbricht had commissioned murders was considered by the judge in sentencing Ulbricht to life and was a factor in the Second Circuit's decision to uphold the sentence.