Byron Sonne, the so-called “G20 geek” accused of plotting to bomb the 2010 summit of world leaders in downtown Toronto, was found not guilty Tuesday of all charges, ending his nearly two-year legal saga.

“I've been waiting to do this a long time,” Sonne said as he greeted reporters outside the University Ave. courthouse.

He then pulled out his bail papers – the documents that first kept him behind bars for 11 months in pre-trial custody and then restricted and confined his activities upon his release last year – and ripped them in a theatrical show of celebratory defiance.

“I'm sorry I'm just totally high on happiness right now,” the 39-year-old Internet security expert said, before acknowledging one part of his life still lost despite his legal vindication.

Sonne's former wife, Kristen Peterson, ended the couple's eight-year marriage while Sonne was in jail. Their divorce was finalized in December.

“Obviously the biggest, most painful thing through all of this is having my marriage fall apart and be abandoned that way, and it would be nice to walk out of the court and into her arms, but that's just not going to happen.”

Then, with his lawyer Joe Di Luca at his side, Sonne returned to happier thoughts. “... I can't believe how good this feels, just to be completely vindicated.”

Tuesday's verdict comes nearly two years after Sonne was arrested on June 22, 2010, as the first high-profile detention of the chaotic G20 weekend.

He was first charged with six offences, including mischief, weapons possession and intimidating justice officials. But by the time the case reached trial, most of the charges were dropped – the “weapon” was a legal potato cannon and the other charges did not pass muster at the preliminary inquiry – and Sonne was left with four counts of possessing explosive materials and one count of “counseling the commission of mischief not committed.”

The Crown alleged he had all the necessary ingredients to build a homemade bomb and was encouraging people, through social media, to disrupt the G20 security apparatus.

Sonne, who had no criminal record, spent 330 days in pre-trial custody and was twice denied bail before he was released last May.

Although he had not assembled any explosive devices and police found neither bomb-making plans nor a detonator, the Crown argued that the fact he possessed the ingredients to build a bomb and was criticizing the G20 through his Twitter and Flickr accounts showed he had the motive to violently disturb the summit.

Sonne – a hobby chemist and computer hacker – admitted to having materials that could be made into an explosive, but said he hadn’t combined them and hadn’t intended to.

He defended himself in recorded police interviews, which were entered into evidence and can be viewed online here and here.

Justice Nancy Spies took more than 100 minutes to deliver her thorough verdict, concluding that the Crown could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Sonne was guilty of any offence.

“[Spies's judgment] picked apart each and every argument put forward by the Crown and ultimately rejected those arguments,” Di Luca said.

After Spies delivered her final verdict and left the University Ave. courtroom, the body of the court, filled with friends and supporters of Sonne, erupted in clapping and cheers.

Sonne shook hands with defence lawyers Joe Di Luca and Peter Copeland, pumped his fist and then made a beeline to his teary-eyed mother in the second row. He hugged both his parents, who had attended every hearing throughout the case.

“I knew he was innocent,” said his mother, Valerie Sonne. “... I just hoped that justice would prevail, and it did.”

Of all the G20 accused, the computer hacker from Forest Hill seemed the least likely to be a terrorist when he was pulled off a Bathurst St. bus and accused of assembling explosives in his basement laboratory while inciting others through social media to disrupt the G20 security apparatus.

Sonne said some of the potentially explosive chemicals he possessed had household uses, while others were part of his model rocketry hobby.

Sonne also never disavowed himself of his Twitter and Flickr accounts, through which he published photos of the $9.4 million security fence, surveillance cameras and pictures of police officers, some with disparaging headlines such as “bacon on wheels” and “stationary bacon.”

Sonne also used his Twitter account to suggest ways in which one could scale or pull down the security fence, and the Crown argued this amounted to counseling others to commit mischief.

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Sonne, whose day job was testing the vulnerabilities in online security systems, said he was just pointing out flaws in the G20 security apparatus and encouraging others to practice good security culture.

Further evidence given in court suggested that Sonne, who admits to being an irreverent mischief-maker, was intentionally provoking police to test the limits of civil liberties.

Sonne said Tuesday he was unrepentant and will not stop testing the limits of civil liberties and challenging government authority.

“It's more important than ever that we fight against the slippery slope of what's being done with our rights, against our ability to participate how we see fit,” he said. “This may have felt like it was done to me, but the fact of the matter is this is all paid for with our tax dollars; they work for us, they work for you,” he said.

Sonne explained his decision to publicly criticize the G20's “security theatre” and defended his right to engage in civil disobedience.

“I got kind of sick of them making my city look like it was some kind of armed camp, like it felt offensive,” he said. “It offended me seeing this fence.”

Sonne’s long and winding case generated interest from across North America and Europe, where Sonne became a cause célèbre for hackers and others interested in the intersections of security culture and technology.

Toronto police used extensive resources in Sonne's case, from daily surveillance before his arrest through to last month's envoy through the city to transport newly earthed chemicals from Sonne's yard. But the force said Sonne's acquittal does not mean their work was wasteful or unnecessary.

“You're engaging in hindsight, which of course is 20-20,” said police spokesman Mark Pugash. “... There was sufficient evidence to arrest, there was sufficient evidence to charge,” he added.

Pugash said it was a “dangerous assumption” to think that because a case was acquitted it should not have made it to court.

“We investigated, we arrested, we charged ... the Crown took the case forward.”

Asked if he was bitter about his ordeal – his 11 months in pre-trial custody, the restrictive bail conditions which followed, the financial burden of the trial – Sonne paused briefly, before quoting Jack Layton.

“Don't agonize, organize,” he said. “... I don't want to be consumed by bitterness, I would rather go out there and make a difference. Love's always more powerful than hate.”

Sonne's lawyer then interrupted to remind his client of a more pressing concern.

“Byron, there's a pint calling your name.”