Brandon Klayme conviction overturned after Kik username error
A Nova Scotia appeals court acquitted Brandon Klayme after police sought records for the wrong Kik username in a child-luring case.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
The Brandon Klayme conviction was overturned after a Nova Scotia appeals court found that police had built a child-luring case around the wrong Kik username. The court said the error sent investigators to Klayme even though the account tied to the Wisconsin case used a different spelling.
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal acquitted Klayme on all charges and vacated his sentence, including probation, after prosecutors agreed his appeal should succeed. Klayme had already served an 18-month prison term following his conviction at trial.
Why was Brandon Klayme’s conviction overturned?
The Court of Appeal said investigators confused two Kik usernames that differed by one underscore. Police were trying to identify “fus__ro_dah,” with two underscores after “fus,” but a subpoena to Kik sought records for “fus_ro_dah,” with one underscore.
Kik responded with information connected to Klayme, according to the court. That mistake steered the investigation from Dane County, Wisconsin, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and ultimately to Klayme’s home.
The court wrote that Klayme was “factually innocent of the offences” and “should never have been charged, let alone convicted.” It also said the correct inquiry would have pointed to a person named Jay whose IP address appeared to be in California.
How the investigation reached Nova Scotia
According to the Court of Appeal, the case began in 2018 after a 12-year-old Wisconsin girl communicated on Kik with an adult male between August and December. Her mother found an inappropriate image on the girl’s phone and contacted local police.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Department examined the phone and found 125 Kik messages between the girl and the account with the double-underscore username, the court said. Investigators then asked Kik for user information, but the subpoena used the single-underscore version.
Google records tied the email address Kik provided to access from an IP address in Canada, according to the court. Dane County investigators passed the matter to Halifax Regional Police, who took the IP address to Bell Aliant; the internet provider associated it with Klayme’s address.
Police obtained a warrant, searched Klayme’s residence and seized phones and laptops from his bedroom, the court said. The searches found no relevant evidence: no link between Klayme and the girl, no intimate images, and no proof that he used Kik during the period at issue.
What charges did Klayme face?
Klayme was charged with luring a person under 14 by telecommunication, providing sexually explicit material to a child, and possession of child pornography. He was convicted after trial in 2023 and sentenced in 2024 to 18 months in prison.
The username discrepancy was not identified at trial, according to the Court of Appeal. Klayme later said in appeal materials that the mistake was found only during the later stages of preparing his appeal arguments.
The court said the records showing the two different usernames were available at trial, but there was no evidence explaining how the issue went unnoticed. After the mistake came to light, prosecutors reviewed the matter again and agreed that Klayme’s convictions could not stand.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.