James Lockyer
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James Lockyer is a lawyer and a prominent social justice activist in Canada.
He is the founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). He has been involved in exposing more than ten wrongful convictions in Canada, including the cases of Guy Paul Morin, David Milgaard, Clayton Johnson and Gregory Parsons. Several of these cases have become the subject of public inquiries.
Mr. Lockyer has worked on behalf of Steven Truscott, whose 1959 conviction of the murder of Lynne Harper came under review by the Ontario Court of Appeal, and of Robert Baltovich, whose murder conviction was quashed by the Ontario Court of Appeal in November, 2004. On August 28, 2007, the Ontario Court of Appeal acquitted Steven Truscott, concluding, "based on evidence that qualifies as fresh evidence in these proceedings, we are satisfied that Mr. Truscott's conviction was a miscarriage of justice and must be quashed". On April 22, 2008, Robert Baltovich was also acquitted in his retrial, after the Crown declined to present any evidence against him. Ironically, James Lockyer also represented Paul Bernardo between 1996 and 1997[1], the person Lockyer now says "probably" is responsible for the death of Baltovich's girlfriend.[2]
Mr. Lockyer taught law at McGill University and at the University of Windsor until 1977, when he went into private practice as a criminal lawyer.
Lockyer has twice been a candidate for the New Democratic Party. He ran federally in the Toronto riding of St. Paul's, first in the 1979 federal election and then in the 1980 federal election. He placed third on both attempts.
