David Paciocco

David M. Paciocco is a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Toronto, Ontario.^[1] Paciocco has authored several books on criminal law^[2] and is considered one of Canada's foremost experts on the law of evidence.^[3][4]

Career

Paciocco completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario and a master's degree in law from the University of Oxford.^[1] Paciocco was hired by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law in 1982 and was called to the Ontario bar in 1983.^[5] He was a member of the legal team that defended the Canadian Red Cross in the tainted blood scandal.^[1] From 1994 to 1998, Paciocco was counsel in private practice.^[5] Paciocco also later taught at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.^[1] In 1999, he published Getting Away With Murder: The Canadian Criminal Justice System, a book intended for the public about the Canadian criminal justice system.^[4] In June 2005, Paciocco was nominated to receive an Honorary Doctorate from Laurentian University.^[6]

In 2010 a Toronto Star investigation revealed that since becoming the ombudsman for the Canadian military in 2001 and then Ontario Ombudsman in 2005, André Marin had awarded Paciocco over $250,000 in untendered government contracts.^[7] Marin and Paciocco complained about the article to the Ontario Press Council, which upheld with the complaint, finding the implications to be unfounded.^[8]

Judge

In 2011, Paciocco was appointed a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice for the Ottawa region.^[1] In 2014, Paciocco struck down the Government of Canada's mandatory victim surcharge, finding that it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.^[3] Ontario prosecutors appealed the decision, but later dropped it after a ruling by Justice Bruce Glass of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld the mandatory victim surcharge.^[2] In a later decision, Paciocco said he was bound to follow the higher court's ruling, but in an unusual move, offered detailed criticism of the decision.^[2]

In 2015, Paciocco convicted a volunteer firefighter of drunk driving, although he threw out the blood alcohol testing after finding police violated the driver's rights.^[9]

On April 7, 2017, Paciocco was elevated to the Court of Appeal for Ontario.^[10]