John Fitzmaurice
John Fitzmaurice has degrees in English Literature (B.A. York, 1977), Social and Political Thought (M.A. York, 1979) and Law (LL.B. U of T, 1982).
He was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1984 and has practiced criminal law ever since. He is a longstanding member of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and the York Law Association and is a member of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan Complex Case Panel. He has appeared before all level of courts including the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
John has an extensive background in criminal, charter and constitutional litigation. In 2015 he commenced a successful application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to stop illegal police entries in Muskoka: Fitzmaurice v. Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police J.V.N. (Vince) Hawkes, Ontario Provincial Police Inspector Ed Medved, The District Municipality of Muskoka, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, the Attorney General of Ontario, and the Attorney General of Canada. The application received national attention in Maclean’s Magazine: see Charlie Gillis, “How much police trespassing is permissible”, Maclean’s (24 October 2016) <macleans.ca>.
John has defended all types of charges including many murder and other very, serious cases. He has also been trial counsel in many precedent setting cases including:
R. v. Donnahue Grant –the leading case in Canada since 2009 on the exclusion of evidence under s. 24 (2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: R. v. Grant, 2009 S.C.C. 32;
R. v. Milton Harris -in which the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that passengers in motor vehicles cannot be routinely investigated during HTA stops: R. v. Harris, 2007 ONCA 574;
R.v. Rajalingam- in which an attempt murder charge was stayed by Supreme Court of Ontario Justice Arthur Whealy for lack of timely disclosure: the stay was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal: R. v. Rajalingam, 2004 CanLII 31362 (Ont. C.A.);
R. v. Laura Thomson- in which the Ontario Court of Appeal held that a Superior Court Judge on a certiorari application cannot commit an accused to trial unless the Crown brings mandamus in aid: R. v. Thomson (2005), 74 O.R. (3d) 721 (C.A.); Following this ruling the accused was remitted to the Ontario Court of Justice where she was discharged on a count of attempt murder but committed for trial on aggravated assault. The Ontario Court of Appeal eventually stayed that proceeding: R. v. Thomson, 2009 ONCA 771;
R. v. Rogers in which Thunder Bay Supreme Court of Ontario Justice John dePencier Wright stayed a PPT Cocaine charge (1 kilo) after a jury found the accused guilty. The stay was based on Charter violations unearthed during trial cross-examinations. See: Judge raps city police over Jan. drug bust : "allegation of misconduct" of concern, says new chief Publication: Chronicle-Journal, 25 Oct 1995, A1 An appeal by the Crown to the Ontario Court of Appeal was abandoned.
R. v. Patanjosthi- in which Ontario Court of Justice (now Superior Court of Justice) Shaun Nakatsuru held that Charter s. 7 use immunity precludes admission in evidence of accident reports collected at Motor Vehicle Accident Reporting Centres: 275 CCC (3d) 112;
R. v. Murphy and Thompson (2014) in which Ontario Court Justice Crawford declared “next door neighbour searches” unlawful. This case led to a successful civil application by John in the Superior Court of Justice in which the Criminal Lawyers’ Association intervened as a friend of the court.
Telephone: (647) 466-6135
johndfitzmaurice@gmail.com