It all comes down to the jury, none of those things matter. The bigger issue here: he knew those messages weren’t him, so the lawyer should’ve gone full force to figure out how this happened. I would guess his lawyer didn’t really believe him

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thephyber 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It was a judge, not a jury.

And yeah, the trial lawyer failed to make the case, but if the defendant couldn't raise money for a defense, they he likely didn't have any experts to refute the prosecution's evidence.

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qingcharles an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I don't know about the Canadian justice system, but it's very hard in the USA for defendants to get expert witnesses. The state is supposed to pay, but it's almost never done, and when it is they pay bottom rate for the defendant while having unlimited funds for their own experts.

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giantg2 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

"he likely didn't have any experts to refute the prosecution's evidence."

What evidence? They didn't have any other than a user name. An arm chair lawyer who watched too many shows could have created reasonable doubt.

	▲	bizzletk 4 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		But in a trial room, that evidence was 100% there: > Prosecution: Mister Klayme, the criminal messages were sent from a Kik username called "fus ro dah". What's your Kik username? > Klayme: It's "fus ro dah". > Prosecution: It logically follows that Mister Klayme was the sender, and is therefore guilty of the offense.

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throw101010 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> I would guess his lawyer didn’t really believe him

Then you'd ask to change lawyer. If they can apply a standard practice of care and do basic checks like matching a username and time of use because they don't "believe" you when you say these are not you messages, they are not doing their job as a lawyer.

I'd go as far as saying such basic checks not being done amount to negligence/malpractice, they might have a civil case against that lawyer.

	▲	bizzletk 3 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		But the lawyer would say "okay, help me prove you didn't send these messages" We know he's innocent, and he knows he's innocent, but how does he prove it?