Since becoming a lawyer in 2006, John Fennel has been successfully representing clients before juries and judges. He started in Massachusetts, litigating both trials and appeals in state court. In 2015 he was called in Ontario and continues to produce results for clients in trials and appeals.
John is particularly interested in cases involving expert evidence. Relying on his academic background, he knows how to demonstrate the lack of reliability in the evidence of those testifying for the prison industrial complex. He has successfully excluded breathalyzers from evidence and had juries agree with him in rejecting predictions about future recidivism. He also argued the appellate case that, based on scientific evidence about how memory actually works, resulted in sweeping changes to the jury instructions for eyewitness identifications in Massachusetts. Erroneous expert evidence and mistaken identifications are the leading causes of wrongful convictions, and John is ready to challenge both.
John earned his B.S. in physics in 1993 from James Madison University. In 1999 he earned a PhD. In philosophy form the University of Georgia. After a few years teaching philosophy at university, John went to law school at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a J.D. in 2006. With his extensive experience in academia, he is ready to assist student facing allegations of academic dishonesty. He has published on forensic mental health issues as well as search and seizure law.
