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A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

arstechnica.com

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Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#31

Post by thephyber »

Macha wrote: post #16

What the article doesn’t mention, since this was an incorrect conviction that led to a served 18 month sentence, loss of income from the loss of whatever job he had, and likely life long reputational damage (as this kind of conviction now needs to be explained and some people will adopt a “where there’s smoke there’s fire” attitude…) was there any compensation for this man? It sounds like all he got was voiding the c…

Legal processes take time. The news doesn't wait until the entire process plays out before they start reporting on the news.

Apparently the appeal leading to the acquittal just happened last week.

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#32

Post by sterlind »

joeframbach wrote: post #27

How does one vacate a sentence that was already served?

there's no time machine, but at least the charges are removed from the poor man's record.

he should probably try to seek damages from the state for his wrongful conviction (and get his lawyer disbarred for grossly incompetent counsel!)

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#33

Post by ericcumbee »

codazoda wrote: post #13

> The case went to trial, where Klayme was found guilty. There’s a lot missing in this sentence. What evidence ended up convicting him?

It’s not inconceivable that it was on those chat logs alone. In the us the jury instructions read something to the effect of “this is what beyond a reasonable doubt means. It is up to you to determine if the prosecution has met that burden and you choose to apply as much or little weight to any piece of evidence or testimony as you see fit”

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#34

Post by sterlind »

thephyber wrote: post #22
protocolture wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am betting the judge accepted all the messages as evidence, and that was enough to convict. Theres no one technical in a court room.

The messages ARE evidence for a case. They are the proof that a crime happened. The problem is that they don't tie the defendant to the acts. The lawyers aren't supposed to be technical, but they should know their limitations and hire technical experts. But that also assumes the defendant can afford the defense, which is insanely expensive.

does Canada not have public defenders? I know they're overworked but, c'mon, surely they can do better than they did?

I want to see the transcripts.

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#36

Post by crazygringo »

Aurornis wrote: post #15

> 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. > Still, Klayme was arrested and hit with three charges: > Luring a person under 14 years of age by means of telecommunication > Providing sexually explicit material to a child > Possession of child pornography > The case went to…

Yes, this is an atrocious article.

It makes no sense as presented.

The first thing the records should have shown was the full messaging history which would not have contained any of the incriminating messages.

But even if the messages no longer existed, there was no actual evidence. Truly, what on earth did the defense argue? How on earth was the jury convinced he was guilty?

Everything important about this story is missing from the article.

Edit: from another article, it seems like the conviction was made by a trial judge, and didn't even involve a jury: https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/halifax/appeal-court-qu...

A single judge just decided that "his guilt was the only reasonable conclusion available". Scary. I like a lot of things about Canada, but I'm somewhat horrified at the idea that you can be sent to prison without a jury trial.

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#37

Post by thephyber »

firasd wrote: post #19

Connecting 'this account belongs to you' to 'this account did these activities' seems to rely on a chain of high-integrity (in the sense of both ethics and precision) investigative work that clearly doesn't happen because of the system's lazy recourse to subpoenaing internet companies (here with a typing error)

You can assume "the system is lazy".

In practice, "the system" is a lot of humans. The police in rural Canada aren't used to challenging the word of Wisconsin police. Police and prosecutors need to have an incredible discipline to hear "we have a suspect in your community who preyed on a pre-pubescent girl in our neighborhood" and remain neutral and dispassionate during the investigation.

The stupid part is that the prosecution is supposed to be competent and ethical (but one of those failed). Then the defense attorney is supposed to be competent and ethical (but one of those failed). Presumably the jury got access to all of the facts of the case and simply ignored the lack of evidence tying the defendant to the offending Kik account. A chain of 3 errors shouldn't happen if everybody is diligent, but in practice "won't somebody think of the children?!?" Turns off cognitive skepticism and encourages moral panic.

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#38

Post by mvdtnz »

binaryturtle wrote: post #17

Stupid question: wouldn't a simple comparison with the body(parts) from the inappropriate pictures sent to the girl have helped the innocent guy? I mean those thingies all look different, no, like some sort of "fingerprint"?

Any number of things could have acquitted this man, including that. His lawyer, the judge, the prosecutors, the police and anyone else involved at any stage of this case need to be looked at very carefully and hard decisions should be made about whether it's appropriate for them to be licensed to perform whatever duties they were performing in the course of it.

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#39

Post by buckle8017 »

Aurornis wrote: post #15

> 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. > Still, Klayme was arrested and hit with three charges: > Luring a person under 14 years of age by means of telecommunication > Providing sexually explicit material to a child > Possession of child pornography > The case went to…

Canadian prosecutors tend to bring charges with no basis in law or reality fairly frequently.

The conviction rate Canada wide is only like 50% because so many absurd cases are brought to trial.

Re: A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months

#40

Post by thephyber »

sterlind wrote: post #34
thephyber wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The messages ARE evidence for a case. They are the proof that a crime happened. The problem is that they don't tie the defendant to the acts. The lawyers aren't supposed to be technical, but they should know their limitations and hire technical experts. But that also assumes the defendant can afford the defense, which is insanely expensive.

does Canada not have public defenders? I know they're overworked but, c'mon, surely they can do better than they did? I want to see the transcripts.

If you find them, let us know.

In the US public defenders don't have time to try cases. They are basically plea bargain assistants.

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