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Client found not guilty after two day trial in Newmarket, Ontario Court of Justice, of charges of Luring x 4, and Communicating to obtain the sexual services of a minor x 2, all arising from the police project Raphael. H.B. was 52 years of age at the time and had looked at the backpages for an escort. He eventually made arrangements to meet two service providers at a hotel and was arrested as it was alleged that he was communicating with an undercover officer pretending to be a 14 year old escort. Joseph Neuberger was retained as the criminal defence lawyer. When Joseph Neuberger took over the file, an extensive meeting with the client yielded information about issues with the client’s phone and he having contacted other service providers. The police provided in disclosure only the texts messages between the undercover and Mr. H.R. The cell phone extraction report from the police similarly only had messages between H.R. and the undercover officer. Joseph Neuberger sought an Order releasing the seized phone to the defence to have it forensically reviewed by the defence expert. The defence expert provided an extraction report that included all other calls and messages between H.R. and other service providers and demonstrated that some messages were truncated and not clear. The defence lawyer Joseph Neuberger provided the Crown with the defence expert material and also prepared a Compilation Report that included all communications over a two hour period to provide full context to the communications with the undercover officer. The evidence established that H.R. was confused between two numbers both having area codes of 289 one of which was the undercover officer. There were numerous messages and it was not a simple back and forth between the officer and H.R. but rather extended well over one hour and 34 minutes. Further, defence lawyer Joseph Neuberger spent over 70 hours with H.R. preparing him to testify. At trial, the defence extraction report, and the Compilation Report provided strong evidence to support H.R.’s evidence. The court found that H.R.’s evidence, although having its credibility issues, was not unbelievable and thus raised a reasonable doubt that he knew the alleged age of the pretend escort. Accordingly, the client was found not guilty of all six charges.