Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Overturns Case Investigated and Decided Based on a Typo ⇥ saltwire.com

Paul Kafasis, linking to an Ars Technica report with the headline “A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months”, asks:

While I understand how the mistake led to this poor guy becoming a suspect, I really can’t fathom how he was convicted. What the hell happened during that trial?

This is the kind of mystery that is right up my street. Unfortunately, the explanation is as thin as the evidence.

The case begins in February 2020, when Brandon Klayme was arrested and (erroneously) charged with child sex crimes. These are particularly heinous charges which were attached to this person’s name — the kind of thing that made me consider writing this piece without including the name, only for it to become very difficult to read, so I now hope this is one of the results that comes up to clear Klayme’s name. These charges were laid based on evidence passed to Halifax police from the Dane County Sheriff’s Department in Wisconsin.

Court proceedings and documents are not as readily available in Canada as they are elsewhere, but the sentencing decision begins with an alarming description about the lack of defence afforded to Klayme:

After hearing three days of evidence introduced by the Crown, on November 9 and 10, 2021, as well as May 31, 2022, the Crown Attorney closed her case and tendered the Exhibits. […]

On December 19, 2022, which was the next scheduled court date for the trial or possibly the closing submissions, Defence Counsel advised the Court that they did not intend to call any evidence. […]

One of the main reasons he was found guilty, it would seem, is because no effective counterargument was made.

In this decision, the judge notes the existence of several pieces of evidence that should have raised questions: a voice message, and an interview with the victim who described the perpetrator. But it seems like far more weight was put on the documentary evidence that, supposedly, showed an irrefutable link:

[…] 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.

“Direct and circumstantial evidence”, it would seem, amounted solely to digital documentation that, in hindsight, looks like a confused mix of Klayme’s and the actual perpetrator’s. The Kik account was the second part of the communications chain between “Jay” and this child. The first was, according to paragraph 25 of the sentencing document, a Google+ group. None of these documents clarify whether Dane County police or Halifax police investigated whether the Google+ account that made the post was the same account as Klayme’s. It seems like the inconsistencies were ignored because the I.P. address and the Kik account feel irrefutable. The apparent solidity makes the lack of other evidence seem suspicious unto itself: of course there are no incriminating photos or texts, because the accused is sophisticated enough to cover their tracks. If you begin from the premise that the digital evidence is a lock, any additional information is just supportive.

From the appeal decision:

The Wisconsin police attempted to identify Jay using his Kik username. They obtained account information from Kik using the username fus_ro_dah. This resulted in them obtaining account information from Kik which included Mr. Klayme’s email address. Using the email address, they obtained information including the IP address that Mr. Klayme used to access Google services in December 2018. Kik is separate from Google and there was no evidence that Mr. Klayme’s Google account was used to communicate with C.H.

[…]

The Wisconsin police identified Mr. Klayme as the offender using an incorrect username. His conviction rested on the internet username being attributed to him.

Police in Halifax and Dane County should be offering Klayme an offical apology. I could not find any made publicly by either.

Steve Bruce, reporting for the Chronicle Herald:

After delivering the decision Thursday, Farrar said the conditions Klayme has been under would be lifted and he will not have a criminal record.

“This court, any court, cannot undo what has been done to Mr. Klayme and his family,” the judge said. “All we can do is hopefully put the legal proceedings to an end. Good luck.”

One thing that should be done when there is a miscarriage of justice as egregious as this one is for media to update previous reporting. They should not remove old articles, of course, but they could add an editor’s note at the top of any related story.