One typo sent an innocent man to prison for 18 months
Just one small typo in a Skyrim-themed username landed an innocent man behind bars for 18 months, serving a full term for a crime he didn’t commit.
This all started back in 2018, when an investigation into child predators was underway in Madison, Wisconsin, before being extended all the way to Halifax, Canada.
According to a report by Ars Technica, the police moved their investigation to Canada after making a simple mistake.
The team meant to request records from Kik for a man with the username ‘fus__ro_dah’, which has two underscores after ‘fus’, however they accidentally requested the information for ‘fus_ro_dah, which has just one underscore after ‘fus’.
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For those not familiar, ‘Fus Ro Dah’ is the famous ‘Unrelenting Force’ dragon shout from the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In the game, this translaates to ‘Force Balance Push’, and means the username is not uncommon among Skyrim fans.
However, this error led the authorities to a Canadian man named Brandon Klayme, who was then arrested in 2020 on child sex abuse charges including luring a person under 14 years of age by means of telecommunication, providing sexually explicit material to a child, and possession of child pornography.
After being convicted at a trial in 2023, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which he served in full.
However, throughout the ordeal, Klayme maintained his innocence, and it was only during the preparations for an appeal that the typo was uncovered.
Finally, after years of accusations, Klayme saw his conviction officially overturned on July 23 by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, which wrote: “Mr Klayme is factually innocent of the offences. He should never have been charged, let alone convicted.”
As reported by Ars Technica, Klayme himself spoke out about his ordeal, saying: “In the latter stages of preparing my appeal arguments, it was discovered that the subpoena contained a subtle mistake that changed the course of my life.
“Instead of requesting details for the username “fus__ro_dah”, the subpoena requested details for the username “fus_ro_dah”. The police officer did not notice that the perpetrator’s Kik username “fus__ro_dah” contains a double underscore.
“This discrepancy went completely unnoticed at the trial. It was never brought to the attention of the trial judge.”
Had the correct information request been made to Kik, the police investigation would have led authorities to a man named Jay, with his IP address indicating that he lives in California, thousands of miles away from Halifax, Canada.
The shocking case has prompted many people to take to social media to share their own reactions, with one user writing on Reddit: “Someone needs to give this man millions for what he went through.”
Another said: “he served all 18 months of jail and has had his name ruined??? over nothing?? insane.”
And a third added: “This could have been avoided if they just copy and pasted.”