An innocent Canadian man served 18 months in prison due to a misspelling of his Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim-inspired username by Wisconsin authorities. Brandon Klayme, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was arrested in 2020 on charges including child luring and possession of child sex abuse imagery.
U.S. law enforcement tracked the username used on the chat app Kik to Klayme. However, his legal team later proved that police had made a critical error in identifying the username. The victim in the case identified the individual they communicated with on Kik as using the username "fus__ro_dah," a reference to Skyrim's dragon language shouts. Klayme, conversely, had used the username "fus_ro_dah," differing by a single underscore.
Klayme’s defense lawyer, Zeb Brown, stated that this subtle difference was a significant mistake that altered his client's life. The issue was discovered during the appeal process when attempting to reconcile digital forensic evidence with Klayme's denial of involvement. An appeal board later declared that had the correct username been used initially, the investigation would not have led to Klayme. The board concluded that Klayme is factually innocent and should not have been charged or convicted.
While Klayme's name has been cleared, there has been no announcement regarding any potential claims for damages following his false imprisonment. In other Skyrim-related news, Bethesda announced that the acclaimed RPG has surpassed 65 million units sold worldwide, positioning it among the top 10 best-selling games of all time.