Half the story here
"Ulbricht, 30, of San Francisco, says he created the Silk Road website, but denies any wrongdoing. He was arrested in October 2013, and has been held without bail since. His lawyers say he was framed."
The missing detail is that he claims to have handed over control of the site to someone else who then push the drugs angle big time before handing it back once the Feds started to close in. It is on this basis that he claims to be framed and this is his defence against many of the charges.
This would also help with the murder for hire charges too if this court accept that they can't prove he control the Silk Road and the DPR account at that time.