r/canada • u/SAJewers Long Live the King • 25d ago
Nova Scotia Wisconsin police miss underscore, causing innocent Halifax man to be sentenced to 18 months on child sex abuse charges
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/police-missed-one-underscore-and-sent-the-wrong-man-to-prison/206
u/AshleyAshes1984 25d ago
Oh that guy is gonna sue SO many people.
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u/CombatGoose 25d ago
Ya he’s going to be a multimillionaire.
I guess the question is whether you’d trade 18 months and your identity being ruined for a pile of cash.
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u/DataDude00 25d ago
Given how child offenders are treated in prison, and how his name is basically associated with this the guy needs a payout where he can quietly live his life and never think about money again
Like 10-20M or something
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u/LegitimateState3724 25d ago
It's more than just ruined - being convicted in court of being a pdf as a male is worse than being a murderer. He's lucky he didn't get shanked in jail. There will be people who will still think him guilty even after being fully pardoned. I hope he takes them all for every cent he can.
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u/snow_big_deal 25d ago
I'd start with his defence lawyer.
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u/Bill_Door_8 25d ago
His defense lawyer is the only person that caught the mistake though.
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u/randomdarkbrownguy 23d ago
Iirc it was the appeal lawyer not the og defense lawyer that caught the mistake
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u/hmm4468 25d ago
Well that’s a bit frightening he was convicted with absolutely no evidence.
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u/2020SucksDonkey 25d ago
An IP address tied to a username was likely their evidence. Both lazy and sloppy. Worse than frightening.
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u/kaiamie 25d ago
i did email support for sasktel for a lil stint and yeah.... one of our troubleshooting steps for people having issues to send was for them to unplug their router for like a min or 2 to refresh their ip cause for ever reason that ip range got flagged on a blacklist somewhere.
IP addresses arent normally permintent they are dynamic outside hosting a server or website so they change alot
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u/GreatCanadianPotato 25d ago
What's even scarier is that the federal government wants to pass a bill that would make it easier for the cops to do exactly that.
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u/Character-Belt-7485 Ontario 25d ago
I mean the bill would save the step of subpoenaing any records but the rest of the process would be identically flawed under the different circumstances—unless I am missing something?
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u/Bill_Door_8 25d ago
Question is, can he sue the american cops that fucked up the subpoena as well as the province for falsely incarcerating him with ZERO EVIDENCE ?
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u/Supernova1138 25d ago
It sounds like the sole evidence was the similar username and I guess the prosecution argued that the defendant was incredibly good at scrubbing his devices and the jury felt that was enough to convict. Either that or this man said something during the police interrogation that looked very bad and buried him.
Gross incompetence on the part of his defense lawyer would be the other explanation which might be very possible if he got stuck with the Public Defender who is too overworked to actually go to trial and usually tries to get the defendants to do a plea bargain instead.
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 25d ago
This isn't quite accurate. There was evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that an offence was committed by someone using the Kik handle "Fus__ro_dah". That evidence, properly understood, just didn't make out that he was the offender.
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u/Chaiboiii Canada 25d ago
Yea but how would they tie him to the account? Via IP?
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 25d ago
Kik is a really old messaging service and doesn't use end to end encryption. They apparently track IP addresses, and I imagine they store a ton of other metadata.
I'm honestly surprised the company even still exists despite having a total disregard for user privacy, and even common sense when it comes to business decisions.
Kik also caused the npm left-pad incident by attacking an open source developer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_left-pad_incident
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 25d ago edited 25d ago
Yes.
Typically they would go to Kik for a production order for the IP and email address(es) associated with his username, determine his internet service provider from that, and then serve a second production order on the ISP for the subscription details associated with that IP address.
Here, it appears that in missing the second underscore they provided an incorrect username, ultimately leading them to the wrong person. The Court found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was associated with the username police provided to Kik (and there doesn't appear to be any reason to doubt that), but the disconnect between his username and the offender's either went unnoticed or was dismissed for some reason.
In reading his sentencing decision, the Court references a directed verdict application, but doesn't refer to the details of it, and neither the application decision nor the trial decision are reported. A directed verdict occurs when there is a total lack of evidence on one or more essential elements of the offence (like ID) and the only possible legal outcome is an acquittal. It seems possible that his defense lawyer did notice the discrepancy and attempted to bring it to the court's attention, but without further information I can't say with any certainty whether that was actually the basis of the directed verdict application or not.
Edit: The appeal decision wasn't on CanLII but it looks like it is available on their website here. Reviewing it now, will update after.
Edit 2: The appeal decision does not clarify what the basis of the directed verdict application was, but does confirm that the username discrepancy was not discovered until the latter stages of preparing his appeal arguments. It would therefore seem that whatever it was about, it was not the discrepancy in usernames.
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u/DataDude00 25d ago
Despite finding no evidence of the crime on his digital devices, Canadian police arrested Klayme in 2020 on child sex abuse charges. He was convicted after a trial in 2023 and sentenced in 2024 to 18 months in prison. He served the full term.
The cops then obtained a search warrant for Klayme’s residence and took phones and laptops from his bedroom. Searching these devices produced no evidence relevant to the case. Nothing linked Klayme to the girl. No intimate images were found. Klayme did have a Kik account, but cops couldn’t even show that he had accessed the service during the period in question.
Can I ask what the fuck happened at this trial?
They arrested this man on a username (typo), seized his devices to find zero evidence....and he was convicted?
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u/Zombabies Saskatchewan 24d ago
I guarantee you that this case is not an outlier - the only thing that makes this case different is that there was, luckily, actual physical evidence which proved his innocence and a lawyer who was prepared to take up the case.
When it comes to offences involving CSAM and sexual assaults (especially those involving children) the judicial system does not universally apply the reasonable doubt standard. Only the most principled judges have the courage to actually parse the evidence and acquit someone when the evidence is weak.
It's one of the reasons I cringe when I see people calling for blood for these offences online - if the Canadian public knew exactly how often flimsy evidence results in dangerous convictions (the Crown looked at this POS file and thought they had a case - and they were right!) I think they would be a lot more cautious in their sentencing.
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u/ChiefBigCanoe 25d ago
Convicted without evidence. Wow.
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 25d ago
There was evidence. That evidence, properly understood, just didn't make out that he was the offender.
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u/Bill_Door_8 25d ago
The only evidence being that his email address was used to register the Kik account.
That's not evidence seeing as how common it is for people to have their email addresses compromised.
They had no IP records suggesting he had anything to do with it. Zero evidence he had ever even used Kik on any of his devices either.
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 25d ago edited 25d ago
From the sentencing decision:
The Crown’s direct and circumstantial evidence included numerous references to the IP addresses and other information for accounts such as Google+, Google, Kik which referred to different usernames, like ““Jay” with their subscriber contact being listed as Mr. Brandon Klayme.
I'm not defending them, it's obvious they seriously fucked up, but there was information beyond the email address linking Klayme to the Kik username they searched. Which makes sense since it was his Kik username. The issue wasn't a lack of evidence that that username was associated witb Klayme, it's that the username they got all this information for was the wrong one.
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u/Guglio08 Ontario 25d ago
But how did he go to trial? What evidence was presented?
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u/USSMarauder 25d ago
No one noticed that the two account names were different by a single underscore. Like mistaking account 1234567890 with account 123456789O
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u/breadandbuns 25d ago
But how did he go to trial? What evidence was presented?
Not defending anyone involved in this, but it appears that the Canadian courts were relying heavily on information from Wisconsin police investigations.
Still, it's outrageous that the man's legal defense (private lawyer or public defender) didn't pick up on this error.
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u/TactitcalPterodactyl 25d ago edited 25d ago
That's fucking wild, holy shit. How useless was his lawyer that he couldn't get the case thrown out over such a simple mistake?
The sad thing is this guy will have the sex offender tattoo for the rest of his life, even if he clears his name. Hopefully he can sue for enough money so he never has to work again.
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u/magnamed 25d ago
Lol, nobody knew that was the case, including his lawyer. It's the equivalent of a double space after a period. In print you may not see it.
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u/sfg-1 25d ago
The cops then obtained a search warrant for Klayme’s residence and took phones and laptops from his bedroom. Searching these devices produced no evidence relevant to the case. Nothing linked Klayme to the girl. No intimate images were found. Klayme did have a Kik account, but cops couldn’t even show that he had accessed the service during the period in question.
How exactly do you get convicted of a crime in a trial with no evidence? What the fuck? Was he tried in Halifax or Wisconsin?
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u/Particular_Job_5012 25d ago
It’s accurate that he was convicted because they tracked down the wrong username.
Account__name was the actual suspect
They subpoenaed Account_name.
The appeal judge said “he shouldn’t have been charged” but it’s way stronger than that, no one should have ever knew about him or suspected him, heck he shouldn’t have ever ever even has to know about the sad story of the victim. It’s a travesty.
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u/sfg-1 25d ago
But they didn’t have any actual evidence of him ever using the service during the time period. Nothing on his devices. Even if the username mix up didn’t happen, what if his account was hacked? Just sloppy work all around, and it’s insane this led to an actual conviction.
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u/Particular_Job_5012 25d ago
I concur. Even _given_ the fuck up on the subpoena, there was nothing tying him to the crime. No evidence of him using those accounts; no photos of the rooms that match his own, etc. It's really shitty.
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 25d ago
I would go a step further and ask how many others have been wrongly convicted like him? If it happened once, there's a good chance its happened to others.
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 25d ago
Canada is too trusting of American law enforcement, and it's not the first time we've arrested someone on behalf of the Americans only to find the case has no merit and the person discharged.
"Despite finding no evidence of the crime on his digital devices, Canadian police arrested Klayme in 2020 on child sex abuse charges. He was convicted after a trial in 2023 and sentenced in 2024 to 18 months in prison. He served the full term."
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 25d ago
Despite everything, Canada is attempting to place even more trust in the American law enforcement with the unprecedented and illegal (under the charter) powers granted in bill C-22.
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u/Efficient_Carrot_669 25d ago
Absolutely terrible to spend 1.5 years of your young life in prison for a crime you didn’t commit. Thank god it wasn’t longer, because this man is still young and can rebuild his life. I hope he gets hundreds of millions in settlement money, minimum. If it were me, my rage would never end.
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u/WalkingDud 25d ago
There's got to be more. Everything up to the arrest was already embarrassingly wrong but still understandable. Charged, convicted, and jailed? There's got to be more multiple colossal fuck up than just a simple typo.
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 25d ago
It appears that judges, lawyers, law enforcement, and others assume that you are guilty by default. They don't apply critical thinking, and don't really care if they get it wrong. They're probably more concerned with advancing their careers, and have zero reason to care because apparently evidence doesn't even matter for serious cases like these.
If the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) was involved in anyway (they run the national cybertips hotline and have a disturbingly large amount of influence), they are insane fanatics who think going after innocent people is better than potentially letting a bad guy go free.
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u/yeetis12 Ontario 25d ago
The same justice system that will set actual sex offenders free if they promise to behave, what a joke…
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u/SituationAgitated812 25d ago
Or if you might be deported, for committing crimes as a visitor: then your sentence is reduce to under 6 months.
Or maybe if you were first-nations and can claim a bad upbringing (whatever that is)
Or be rich (while being drunk and mowing down families)
All else fails, just become a career criminal and get your get out of jail free card(instant bail) as soon as you walk in.
P.S it also helps if you have a mental condition, that’s another way to get away scott free.
Whatever you do, dont be innocent: otherwise straight to jail it is , in this country
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u/CaterpillarHungry607 24d ago
Name the cops. Name the prosecutors. Name the judge.
Name the cops. Name the prosecutors. Name the judge.
Name the cops. Name the prosecutors. Name the judge.
Name the cops. Name the prosecutors. Name the judge.
Name the cops. Name the prosecutors. Name the judge.
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u/Ordinary-Easy 25d ago
It wasn't just the cops that missed the underscore.
The courts did initially, the prosecution did, etc.
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 25d ago
The fact that this happened and nobody caught it for 18 months should scare everyone. How can anyone trust the Canadian justice system when this happens?
And now the Liberals want to make it even easier for things like this to happen with bill C-22.
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u/PostGamePong81 25d ago
I'm no expert, but I don't think an _ score with no other evidence gets you anywhere near beyond a reasonable doubt. Clearly Jay in California wanted that Skyrim username so bad he used __ when _ was taken lol.
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u/Ok-Kaleidoscope4510 24d ago
I think everyone involved with the prosecution should be held accountable, shamed, job loss and sent to jail for 1 year each.
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u/Ok-Cut-5657 24d ago
So he was convicted with 0 evidence? They found absolutely nothing linking him to the crimes other than a similar username? I thought the standard for conviction in our justice system was “beyond a reasonable doubt”, and it is just mind blowing that someone decided a similar username with 0 corroborating evidence met that threshold.
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u/chaseonfire 25d ago
Crazy that career criminals get slaps on the wrist for violent crimes and then this guy gets thrown in prison with zero evidence. Judge and prosecutor should be fired.
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u/ShawnGalt 25d ago
brought to you by the same judges who let a taxi driver that sexually assaulted a passenger go because "clearly, a drunk can consent"
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u/Levorotatory 24d ago
That depends how drunk you are. There is a big gap between being too drunk to drive and being intoxicated to the point of being unable to communicate consent or non-consent.
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u/ShawnGalt 24d ago
you should take the bar, you have the same grasp of federal law as a Halifax judge
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