Ontario man loses bid to avoid extradition in child porn distribution case

TORONTO — A man who voluntarily told an Ontario court he had distributed child porn in an effort to avoid facing a related charge in the U.S. has lost another bid to stave off extradition.

Brandon William Lane, of Kingston, had pushed for a judicial review after the minister of justice upheld an order for his extradition, but that appeal was denied earlier this month.

Court documents show Lane, who pleaded guilty here to making and possessing child porn, brought up his role in a child pornography website called Dreamboard during his sentencing hearing.

He then argued that his role in distributing the material was reflected in his Canadian sentence, and that sending him to the U.S. to face charges related to the distribution of child porn would expose him to double jeopardy — meaning he would be punished twice for the same crime.

He also said extradition would violate his Charter rights because the American sentence — potentially up to lifetime — would be so severe as to “shock the Canadian conscience.”

But the Court of Appeal for Ontario rejected what it called his “tactical gambit to engineer a double jeopardy defence,” saying it was reasonable for the minister to rule that the Canadian and American offences are distinct.

“The Canadian offence contains no element of acting in concert with three or more persons in three or more incidents of exploiting children, involving three or more victims, or of knowing that the pornographic material is distributed interprovincially or internationally by computer,” the panel wrote in its decision.

“Nor does it require proof of the positive act of organized co-operation with others to facilitate the distribution of the material, as the American offence does.”

The appeal court supported the finding that Lane’s sentence in the U.S. would not violate his rights or shock the public.

“There is no question, and the minister was certainly aware, that the applicant faces a significant sentence in the United States,” the court wrote.

“However, absent a potential death penalty or sentence that would involve some form of torture, the severity of a sentence will not generally shock the conscience of Canadians.”

Court documents say that in 2010, U.S. authorities alerted Canadian ones about Lane’s alleged involvement in a “sophisticated international child pornography organization” that operated Dreamboard — a password-protected online forum with about 600 members, dedicated to the distribution and advertisement of child pornography.

About 70 people were charged over their alleged involvement in the site, the documents say. Lane was charged with various child pornography offences in the U.S. and in Canada, but the Canadian charges were eventually stayed, they say.

However, while Lane was on bail, his father turned him in to police after discovering thousands of images of child pornography on a homemade computer, the documents say.

Lane was charged with breaching his bail conditions as well as making and possessing child pornography and other charges, to which he pleaded guilty in 2014, they say.

At his sentencing hearing, he asked the court to consider evidence that he had also distributed child porn, and the judge agreed to take it into account as an aggravating factor, despite objections from the Crown and American authorities, the documents say. Lane was sentenced to 9.5 years behind bars.

Canadian Paul Graham Fry has been extradited to the U.S. in connection with the Dreamboard case. He is expected to testify as to Lane’s involvement in the website.