My take on the Fantino circus!

In my opinion, here's what is going to happen in the disciplinary hearing up in Orillia!

Julian Fantino said it best "Hysterical Nonsense"

This disciplinary hearing is on the third appeal from the Fantino camp to have the adjudicator tossed, retired judge Leonard Montgomery was personally selected for the disciplinary hearing by Fantino himself!

On Monday March 30 2009 The Fantino circus, the same day as the appeal was to be heard, MORE allegations surfaced from another officer, the complaint, which has not been proven, alleges Fantino "engaged in unlawful acts of reprisals against defence witnesses.

The Messham probe came as a Divisional Court panel was still weighing a Fantino request to force retired justice Leonard Montgomery to step down as adjudicator in the misconduct case.

In a letter to the lead investigator filed with the Appeal Court, Messham's lawyer Scott Fenton called the probe of his client a "gross misuse" of criminal investigative power.

"The decision to direct a criminal investigation against Insp. Messham (ret.) appears to be part of a broader pattern of misuse of authority by the commissioner of the OPP against current and former senior officers who the commissioner perceives are disloyal, recalcitrant or disrespectful of his authority and his particular methods of enforcing discipline," Fenton wrote

After so many appeals and heel dragging by the Fantino camp, and now rumors floating around, about Fantino retiring next year and running for the Mayor of Vaughan, which would be a great place for Mr. Accountability.Would this mean that under the PSA(police services act) that all this TAX payer money and time would be a waste, as the allegations would be considered NULL and VOID as he would no longer be a police officer?

You can find more info here: http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/canada/article/204632

More Hysterical Non-Sense

Yet another appeal from the Fantino circus, where does it all end, how many judges, adjudicators and how many tax dollars are being wasted on this garbage.

Two Biased adjudicators and SEVEN judges don't see anything wrong, but Julian Fantino is getting the short end of the stick AGAIN, just ask him!


Fantino seeks to appeal ruling over adjudicator at charged discipline case
6 days ago

TORONTO — Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino isn't giving up his quest to have an adjudicator tossed from hearing a troubled disciplinary case that features accusations of witness tampering, petty malice and political interference.

Fantino's lawyer said Wednesday his client is hoping the province's top court will hear his contention that the adjudicator has shown bias against him, even though two courts have already rejected the complaint.

"The issue is a very important one," lawyer Tom Curry said.

"The need for impartiality in a police discipline case of this sort raises an important issue of the public interest."

On Tuesday, a three-judge Divisional Court panel rejected Fantino's complaints against retired justice Leonard Montgomery in the fractious case.

Montgomery has been presiding over a hearing involving two senior members of Ontario Provincial Police whom Fantino has charged with misconduct under the Police Services Act.

The hearings have increasingly focused on Fantino's motivations for charging Supt. Ken MacDonald and Insp. Alison Jevons.

Their lawyer Julian Falconer has argued Fantino laid the charges to appease the police union and because he suspected MacDonald of leaking information.

The commissioner has strenuously denied those allegations.

During the hearings, Montgomery clashed with Fantino and prosecutor Brian Gover, who requested last fall that Montgomery step down. Gover said the provincial attorney general backed the request.

Montgomery complained Gover was trying to intimidate him and decried any government involvement in the quasi-judicial process.

Curry said he would try to force a stay of the hearings while the Appeal Court decides if it will review the lower court decision.

Falconer maintains Fantino is using legal machinations to avoid having to testify further.

"My clients' instructions are to resume the cross-examination of the commissioner at the earliest possible juncture," Falconer said Wednesday.

"There is no merit to the allegations of bias against Justice Montgomery, and it is high time that the commissioner return to the witness stand."

Curry rejected suggestions that Fantino is wasting public money by pressing the bias issue.

"There isn't any squandering of resources to have a decision like this made where the underlying case in the discipline proceedings is important," Curry said.

The labyrinthine affair began in April 2004, when Susan Cole of Gananoque, Ont., called 911 to say her estranged husband, provincial police Sgt. Paul Alaire, had taken a baseball bat to her car.

Cole complained the responding officers asked her to leave her home rather than arrest Alaire. The civilian agency that oversees police ordered a probe.

MacDonald and Jevons investigated Cole's complaint, and concluded the responding officers had not followed proper procedure.

Fantino charged the pair two years ago with misconduct in relation to their investigation.

Fantino loses bid to have adjudicator tossed from discipline case

This second adjudicator was picked by Fantino himself, I for one am happy that Fatino was successful in getting the first adjudicator tossed off the internal hearing!
It's not such hysterical nonsense now is it Julian!

TORONTO — Ontario's top police officer, Julian Fantino, lost a second legal bid Tuesday to have an adjudicator he accused of bias thrown off an increasingly messy disciplinary hearing.

A three-member Divisional Court panel unanimously found retired judge Leonard Montgomery had behaved reasonably, and the judges rejected accusations of impartiality from Fantino, the commissioner of Ontario Provincial Police.

"The adjudicator and counsel are professionals with well understood responsibilities that are informed by the duties that apply to officers of the court," the court said in its 30-page decision.

"The reasonable expectation should be that the work of the tribunal will go forward in a proper manner."

The court also dismissed the argument that Montgomery could not stay on the case given Fantino's complaints against him.

"If, in such circumstances, a suggestion of this kind could succeed, it would imply, at least potentially, that a party to proceedings could attempt to remove an unwanted judicial officer by bringing a complaint of bias ... regardless of whether the complaint succeeded or not," the court ruled.

"That would be inimical to the proper working of the justice system."

It was Fantino's second failed attempt to get the courts to force Montgomery to recuse himself in the long-running case involving two senior police officers charged under the Police Services Act with misconduct.

Their lawyer Julian Falconer maintains Fantino was being petty and vindictive in laying the charges.

He argued the recusal motion and subsequent court battles were simply Fantino's attempt to derail his cross-examination.

"This is a sad example of where endless legal resources can take a proceeding," Falconer said after the court ruling.

"It's my hope that cooler heads prevail and that we simply resume the hearing."

Fantino's current lawyer Tom Curry was not immediately available to comment.

In November, Fantino's prosecutor at the disciplinary hearing asked Montgomery to step down.

In doing so, Brian Gover also said he would take the matter to court if the retired justice did not do so, and insisted the province's attorney general supported him.

An angry Montgomery refused to step aside, calling Gover's comments a "highly improper" attempt to intimidate a judicial officer.

The Divisional Court said Montgomery's reaction was "reasonable."

The panel also rejected Curry's assertions the adjudicator had shown hostility to the prosecution on several occasions, including once when Montgomery said he was "upset" after Fantino changed an answer he had given earlier.

The court called Fantino's response "gratuitous."

The labyrinthine disciplinary hearing involves two former members of the provincial police internal standards bureau.

They are charged in relation to an investigation they conducted into how officers responded to a domestic violence complaint involving an officer and his estranged wife almost five years ago.

But the case has instead ensnared Fantino, with the defence accusing him of witness tampering.

Falconer was delighted with the Divisional Court ruling.

"My clients deserve this," he said. "They simply want to get back to the hearing and have this matter put behind them.