John Rosen is a Canadian criminal defence lawyer, who has defended murder trials in Ontario, [1] and perhaps the most in Canadian history. He has defended some notorious criminals in Canadian history, including Paul Bernardo, Pat and Angelo Musitano, Min Chen, [2] Paul Volpe, Johnny Papalia, Carmen Barillaro and Pietro Scarcella. He is a partner in the Toronto law firm of Rosen Naster LLP. [3]
John Rosen's grandparents immigrated to Toronto from Poland in the early 1900s. He is the eldest of six children, whom his father supported with his Bay Street dry-cleaning shop, Imperial Cleaners, across from the Toronto Coach Terminal. At age 16, Rosen began driving the dry-cleaning delivery truck after school. [4]
John Rosen received his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1968. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1970. He is a member of a number of professional associations, including the Advocates Society, the Criminal Lawyers' Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in the US, and Canadian and American Bar Associations. [5]
Rosen is well known for the notoriety of the accused criminals he defends. He is also known for the ruthlessness of his defence of persons accused of odious crimes. [6] In one case, he was criticized for making a murder victim seem like a criminal. [7]
Rosen successfully defended a man charged with second degree murder, where the prosecution withdrew the charge on the eve of trial following John's appearance in the Supreme Court of Canada in the related case of Benson v. Brown, [8] which set the ground rules for allowing access to lawyer/client confidential information regarding another suspect previously cleared by the police.
Among Rosen's high-profile cases were:
Paul Kenneth Bernardo is a Canadian serial rapist and serial killer dubbed the Scarborough Rapist, the Schoolgirl Killer and, together with his former wife Karla Homolka, one of the Ken and Barbie Killers. He is known for initially committing a series of rapes in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, between 1987 and 1990, before committing three murders with Homolka; among these victims was Karla's younger sister, Tammy Homolka.
Karla Leanne Homolka, also known as Karla Leanne Teale, Leanne Teale, and Leanne Bordelais, is a Canadian serial killer who acted as an accomplice to her husband, Paul Bernardo, taking active part in the rapes and murders of at least three minors in Ontario – including her own sister, Tammy Homolka – between 1990 and 1992.
Edward Leonard Greenspan, was one of Canada's most famous defence lawyers, and a prolific author of legal volumes. His fame was owed to numerous high-profile clients and to his national exposure on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio series Scales of Justice (1982–94).
Goldwin Arthur Martin was a Canadian lawyer and judge who was known as an expert on criminal law. He was a judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario from 1973 to 1988.
Imre Finta was the first person prosecuted under Canada's war crimes legislation. He was charged in 1987 and acquitted in 1990.
Edward Sapiano was a Canadian defence lawyer, based in Toronto, Ontario, notable for his role in many high-profile criminal cases. He initiated Canada's largest criminal investigation of police, resulting in the arrest and prosecution of several Toronto police officers and was also involved in the so-called Toronto 18 terrorism trial. Edward Sapiano is also noted for demanding immediate DNA testing of his client shortly following the 1996 arrest of the suspected "North York serial rapist", leading to his client Jeremy Foster's full vindication, despite a false confession to the crime. In his quest to get illegal guns off the street, Sapiano also created the only lawyer-operated gun amnesty program available in North America, Piece Options. He is also known for starting a database of rulings and judgements to track alleged misconduct among Toronto-area officers which was then retrievable for cross-examinations in other cases by other lawyers. Edward Sapiano, after putting his practice on hold for two and a half years due to kidney failure, returned to court in 2017 for the Andrea White murder trial. Edward died on March 21, 2020, from complications of kidney disease and was cited to be the first lawyer in Canada to practise while undergoing 10 hours of daily dialysis. He was regularly featured by media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, CBC, and the New York Times commenting on criminal law issues.
Cecilia Zhang was a nine-year-old child from North York, a district of Toronto located in Ontario, Canada who went missing on October 20, 2003. After being missing for six months, her body was discovered by the Credit River in Mississauga on March 27, 2004. Min Chen, a Chinese citizen from Shanghai who was in Canada on a visa, was arrested. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on May 9, 2006. Chen confessed that he was kidnapping for ransom and her death was accidental.
The Commisso 'ndrina is a powerful clan of the 'Ndrangheta, a criminal and mafia-type organization in Calabria, Italy. The 'ndrina is based in Siderno, but also has a branch in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada as part of the Siderno Group. The Commisso clan is involved in international drug trafficking using family ties in Italy, Canada, the United States and Australia.
Brian H. Greenspan, is a Canadian lawyer. He is one of the most prominent and respected defence lawyers in Canada.
Kevin Mark Murphy is a Canadian musician and criminal lawyer, best known as a co-founder of the Ottawa-based music group, Singing Fools.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.
The death of Sammy Yatim occurred early in the morning of July 27, 2013, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Yatim, an 18-year-old Toronto male armed with a switchblade knife, was shot at nine times, and was hit by eight of the shots fired by 30-year-old Toronto Police Service (TPS) officer James Forcillo. After being shot, while lying on the floor of the streetcar he was tasered. He later died from the injuries. The incident occurred after Yatim, brandishing a 12 cm (4.7 in) switchblade knife in a Toronto streetcar, advanced on a passenger, threatened other passengers, and exposed himself. The confrontation between Yatim and the police was recorded and footage of it was released publicly, prompting strong reactions across Canada.
Marie Therese Henein, KC is a Canadian criminal defence lawyer. She is a partner of Henein Hutchison LLP, a law firm in Toronto.
R v Elliott was a criminal harassment trial based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Gregory Alan Elliott was charged with criminally harassing three women in the Toronto area, following a protracted dispute with feminist activist Stephanie Guthrie. The case was considered to have implications for free speech in Canada, and to be the first prosecution for harassment solely involving activity on the social networking website Twitter. After the trial's conclusion earlier cases of criminal harassment on Twitter were found but Elliott's is still the only one known that didn't include any violent threats.
Salvatore "Sam" Calautti, was an Italian-Canadian hitman for the Calabrian-based Mafia organization 'Ndrangheta, based in Toronto and Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada. The organization rivals the Sicilian Rizzuto crime family.
Pietro "Peter" Scarcella is an Italian-Canadian mobster based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, linked to the Sicilian Rizzuto crime family of Montreal, Quebec.
Raffaele Delle Donne is an Italian-Canadian Mafia associate based in Toronto and Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada, who later voluntarily turned police informant. After a botched hit on a rival mobster at a North York California Sandwiches shop that left an innocent bystander paralyzed, Delle Donne worked with police for 13 months wearing wiretaps. This led to the 2005 arrests of his associate Pietro Scarcella, Mark Peretz, Paris Christoforou and Antonio Borrelli, and the 2006 convictions that resulted in nine-year prison sentences for Scarcella, Peretz and Christoforou, while the shooter Borrelli received 10 years in prison.
Eugene Singarajah Thuraisingam is a lawyer from Singapore. He is the founder of the law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, a law firm that specialises in international arbitration and criminal and commercial litigation. He is also known for his advocacy of human rights and for his opposition of the death penalty in Singapore. In relation to his domestic practice as a criminal lawyer in Singapore, Thuraisingam has defended many alleged suspects in high profile criminal trials, including those who were dissidents and critics of the government of Singapore. For his legal service for many defendants in the court of Singapore, Doyles Guide has named him as a leading criminal defence lawyer in Singapore in 2020.
Michael Edelson is a Canadian criminal defence lawyer based in Ottawa, Ontario. He has represented numerous high-profile clients in Canada.
Ken Lee, a 59-year-old man, was fatally stabbed outside the Strathcona Hotel, on York Street, Toronto, at 12:17 am on December 18, 2022. Eight teenage girls were charged with his murder.
