This trial is SHIT.

Vancouver–One of the costliest and lengthiest murder trials in B.C. history involving convicted serial killer Robert Pickton will not be reopened after the province's highest courts this morning found there was not enough evidence to order a new trial.

Pickton, the Port Coquitlam pig farmer who was convicted in December 2007 on six counts of second degree murder, is serving a minimum of 25 years in prison before parole.

He had originally been charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder but 20 of those counts were severed and Pickton went on trial before a judge and jury on the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey.

Pickton's victims were women with drug addictions working in the sex trade in the Downtown Eastside when they disappeared over a period of five years.

The Court of Appeal in B.C. heard two connected appeals related to the year long trial which began January 2007 and concluded with a conviction after a 10 day jury deliberation in December of that year.

Pickton's lawyers appealed the decision saying chiefly the B.C. Supreme Court judge erred in his instruction to the jury after they returned during their deliberations in day six with a question about how to proceed if they were uncertain whether Pickton acted alone.

The crown appealed as well to the Court of Appeal saying that the lower courts should not have severed only six of the 26 counts on the indictment and errors in law by the trial judge about the relevance of planning the murders.

B.C.'s criminal justice branch which oversees crown prosecutors has said that it will not proceed with the other 20 counts of first-degree murder against Pickton because he is already serving the maximum amount of time in prison before eligibility for parole. However the crown said it was prepared to re-try on all 26 counts of first degree murder if a new trial was ordered.

There is a possibility now that the case will go to the Supreme Court of Canada.

By a two-to-one decision, the top justices in B.C. turned down Pickton's appeal for a new trial. But because Justice Ian Donald said he would order a new trial in a dissenting opinion, Pickton's lawyers have the right to appeal to the country's highest court.

Donald wrote that despite the body of evidence against Pickton, the jury deliberated over nine days and reached the "somewhat curious result of second degree murder."

"While it is impossible to know with certainty what was behind the lengthy deliberations and the acquittal on first degree murder, the lack of a full development of a party liability in the charge cannot be dismissed as a cause," wrote Donald.

Donald suggested that there was a possibility that the verdict reached by the jury was so misguided that it was the product of a compromise reached out of puzzlement or frustration.

Cynthia Cardinale, the sister of Georgina Papin, one of Pickton's victims, said before the decision was rendered that the family was anxious to hear the results.

"We don't know how to feel at this point. This seems to never end and we continually have to think about this," she told the Toronto Star in an interview.

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The police are also continuing to investigate any other suspects in addition to Mr. Pickton. "We have to look at the fact that more than one person could be responsible," she said.

BULLSHIT MATAS. NOBODY IS LOOKING FOR NOBODY. OTHERWISE YOU WOULDN'T BE CALLING WILLY PICKTON A FUCKING MASS MURDERER.

AND YOU TALKING HEADS WOULD STILL BE ALL OVER THIS. BUT, YOUR NOT.

AND, HE'S NOT. HOMICIDE IS NOT MURDER MATAS. I FUCKING TOLD YOU THAT. SO WHO YOU TRYING TO FOOL? AND WHY MATAS?

WHY ARE YOU LOOKING IN THESE DEAD BITCHES EYES AND LYING TO ME, MATAS?

BY ROBERT MATAS AND ANUPREET SANDHU BHAMRA

The disappearance and possible murder of more than 60 women from Canada's worst slum, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, has been a dark stain on the city's reputation for more than a decade.

A court decision yesterday upholding Robert Pickton's conviction for second-degree murder of six of those women may do little to wipe it away, family members and community activists said yesterday.

Sandra Gagnon, the sister of a woman who disappeared in June, 1997, said she feared police may not pursue investigations into the missing women since prosecutors say they would not charge Mr. Pickton with any more murders as long as the convictions for six were upheld. Mr. Pickton is already serving the maximum sentence permitted under the law and further trials would be pointless, the prosecutors have said.

"My sister is still one of the missing women," Ms. Gagnon said, referring to her sister, Janet Henry. "The Missing Women Task Force said to me they definitely think she ended up [at Mr. Pickton's farm]. But even if they find enough DNA on the farm, there's never going to be any charge," she said in an interview.

Bernice Williams earlier this week completed a 1,500-kilometre walk from Vancouver to Prince Rupert to draw attention to the women in Vancouver and northern B.C. who have gone missing and possibly were murdered. "It's shameful," she said outside the courthouse. "I think it is so sad." Echoing the request of several aboriginal groups, Ms. Williams said the government should appoint an inquiry into the missing and murdered women.

Yesterday, the B.C. Court of Appeal, in a 2-to-1 decision, dismissed Mr. Pickton's appeal of his conviction of six second-degree murders. Mr. Pickton and his lawyers have not yet decided whether to appeal the B.C. court's decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, lawyer Patrick McGowan told reporters.

The sensational trial over 11 months in 2007 attracted international attention, with explicit testimony of several drug addicts and prostitutes and extensive evidence of unfathomable depravity. The severed heads of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson and Andrea Joesbury were found on Mr. Pickton's farm across the street from a commercial development in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam. The partial jawbones of Marnie Frey and Brenda Wolfe and hand bones of Georgina Papin were also discovered on the property.

Mr. Pickton, 60, was found guilty of killing the six women and sentenced to 25 years without parole. The women were dependent on drugs and worked as prostitutes in one of Canada's most desolate neighbourhoods. He remains charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 20 additional women.

More than 60 women disappeared from the Downtown Eastside in the years before Mr. Pickton was arrested in 2002. A current RCMP poster of missing women shows 69 faces, including six that were killed by Mr. Pickton. The investigation into the fate of the missing women on the poster continues, RCMP spokeswoman Corporal Annie Linteau said in an interview. The police are also continuing to investigate any other suspects in addition to Mr. Pickton. "We have to look at the fact that more than one person could be responsible," she said.

However B.C. Attorney-General Michael de Jong told reporters that he did not expect any further proceedings against Mr. Pickton unless the Supreme Court of Canada was to overturn the B.C. appeal court's decision. He declined to comment on whether the government intends to appoint an inquiry into the missing women. "There is a right of appeal, and as long as that exists, you are not going to hear me speculate about other proceedings," Mr. de Jong said.

Susie Kinshella, a sister of Wendy Crawford, said the Crown should have put Mr. Pickton on trial for all 26 murder charges, not just for six. The murder of Ms. Crawford is one of 20 that remain in limbo. Visibly disappointed but composed, Ms. Kinshella said she will fight the system until her sister's case is heard.

Being in jail for six murders should not mean he will not be tried for other crimes, she said. "What kind of a government system is that?" Ms. Kinshella said.

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So, his alibi is now verdict? Then he didn't do it.

They let him go cuz the Jury doesn't buy that he actually "murdered" anybody himself. Otherwise, he would have been convicted on first degree homicide for acting alone.

And, that was his alibi all along.

I know there's dead bitches on my lawn but, I didn't kill 'em.

And, the Jury agrees with you Willy.

B.C.'s Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction of Robert William Pickton on six counts of second-degree murder, but his case appears to be headed to the country's highest court.

In a split ruling issued on Thursday in Vancouver, two of the three Appeal Court judges agreed that Justice James Williams erred in his final instructions to the jury, but they ruled the mistakes were not serious enough to warrant a new trial.

Justice Ian Donald disagreed, concluding the judge and Crown lawyers created so much confusion over key points of law that the conviction should be overturned.

Pickton, a former Port Coquitlam pig farmer, was found guilty in December 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of six women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The split decision Thursday means the case will have an automatic right to a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Both the Crown and the defence appealed the original conviction on various grounds, leading to Thursday's ruling.

Trial should have been held on all 26 charges: Appeal Court

In a separate decision on the Crown's appeal, the three Appeal Court judges also ruled that Williams was wrong to split the trial in two, trying six of the murder counts separately from 20 other charges.

Pickton was charged but never tried for the first-degree murder of 20 other women, many of whom were sex trade workers from the Downtown Eastside.

Should the Supreme Court of Canada eventually rule in favour of the defence and grant Pickton a new trial, the B.C. court ruled the new trial should include all 26 counts.

Pickton, who turns 60 this year, was arrested in 2002 after a lengthy investigation into missing sex trade workers from Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside.

In December 2007, after almost two weeks of deliberations, a B.C. jury found Pickton guilty on six counts of second-degree murder for killing Andrea Joesbury, Georgina Papin, Mona Wilson, Marnie Frey, Serena Abbotsway and Brenda Wolfe.

Jurors heard that their body parts were found in buckets or buried on Pickton's pig farm. One witness testified Pickton told him he had butchered women and fed them to his pigs.

Initially the Crown wanted to try Pickton for all 26 counts of first-degree murder, but in a controversial decision, Justice James Williams split off six counts, saying the other 20 charges should be tried at a later date.

Appeals launched by both defence and Crown

In January 2008, following the conviction, Pickton’s lawyers launched an appeal, arguing a new trial for six counts of second-degree murder should be granted.

The Crown launched its own appeal, requesting a new trial on all 26 counts of first-degree murder if the original verdict was overturned, arguing that the judge erred when he separated the cases.

The appeal by the defence focused mainly on the instructions Justice Williams gave to the jury.

It contended Williams made a mistake when he initially instructed the jury they could convict Pickton if they were satisfied he acted either alone or in concert with others in the killings.

Pickton's lawyers argued there was no evidence presented at the trial that Pickton acted in concert with others.

The defence also argued the judge made a mistake when answering a question the jury asked on the sixth day of deliberations and by amending his instructions to them.

The question concerned the issue of whether Pickton could be considered guilty if the jury inferred he acted indirectly. The judge told the jury they could find Pickton guilty even if he didn't act alone, as long as they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt he actively participated in the killings.

According to the Crown's notice of appeal, the judge's instructions to the jury erred when it came to certain evidence presented in relation to the question of whether the murders were planned and deliberate.

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NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - A jury in New Westminster has heard Robert Pickton's DNA was conclusively not on the teeth of two women he's accused of killing but people who visited his farm couldn't be ruled out.

Reporting officer David Morissette testified under cross-examination that two teeth from Sereena Abotsway and two from Andrea Joesbury contained DNA other than their own.

But only in one tooth from Abotsway and one from Joesbury could enough be extracted for a comparison to more than 1,200 samples taken from police, lab technicians and people known to have visited Pickton's farm.

In both cases, Pickton's wasn't a match.

But on one tooth from Abotsway, the DNA from a man and a woman known to have been on the property could not be excluded as a match.

On Joesbury's tooth, the DNA didn't match to any of the samples.

Morissette told the court how he exhausted every avenue trying to find out how the unknown samples could have made it onto the teeth.

Court heard swabs weren't taken of the teeth before they were ground into the powder needed for DNA processing so it wasn't known whether the mystery DNA came from there.

Pickton is on trial for the murders of Abotsway, Joesbury and four other women.


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Who the fuck ate Willy Pickton's Friends?

They later ate pork chops together, which Brooks said doesn't make sense if the conversation had really happened.

"You would never sit down and eat pork chops with Willie Pickton, who is cutting up and butchering his own pigs," Brooks said.

Pickton's lawyer says Crown witnesses lied

The Crown's star witnesses lied in court and gave contradictory evidence, and therefore jurors could disregard everything they have said at Robert (Willie) Pickton's murder trial, a defence lawyer said this morning as closing arguments began.

METRO VANCOUVER – The Crown's star witnesses lied in court and gave contradictory evidence, and therefore jurors could disregard everything they have said at Robert (Willie) Pickton's murder trial, a defence lawyer said Monday as closing arguments began.

"You are entitled to throw out the entirety of their evidence," defence lawyer Adrian Brooks said.

The start of closing arguments at Pickton's murder trial -- where he is accused of killing six sex-trade workers who disappeared from the Downtown Eastside -- finally marks the last chapter in this trial, which started 10 months ago.

The defence's strategy will include challenging the credibility and stories of three Crown witnesses who linked Pickton to the murders, as well as the forensic evidence found on Pickton's farm.

"If you have a reasonable doubt it is your duty to acquit Mr. Pickton," Brooks told the 12 jurors, aided by a power point presentation broadcast on TV screens throughout the packed courtroom.

Brooks focused on the evidence of key witnesses Scott Chubb, Andrew Bellwood and Lynn Ellingsen.

Chubb testified that Pickton once said a good way to kill "junkies" was to inject them with a syringe of windshield wiper fluid. Police found a syringe filled with windshield wiper fluid inside a stereo console in Pickton's office.

However, when Chubb was on the stand in June to testify for the prosecution, he nearly forgot to mention the syringe. "That's just an actor forgetting his lines," Brooks charged.

A toxicologist testified that for windshield wiper fluid to be toxic, a person would have to be injected with between 150 and 375 of the exact syringes found in Pickton's trailer. "This story makes no sense at all," Brooks said of Chubb.

Brooks noted the toxicologist also said windshield wiper fluid could be used by drug users to clean a syringe.

Brooks said the defence could not prove this allegation, but asked the jury to consider whether Chubb -- who had worked on the farm in the past -- had planted the syringe in Pickton's trailer. "It wasn't beyond him," Brooks suggested.

Brooks said the witness's testimony at trial was so unreliable that the Crown may do "a 100 yard backward dash to get away from Mr. Chubb."

Andrew Bellwood told the court that in 1999, Pickton confided to him that he lured prostitutes to his Port Coquitlam farm and killed them. Pickton demonstrated on his bed how he would handcuff the women and then strange them with a wire, before dismembering their bodies in the slaughterhouse.

After the shocking conversation they went back to watching TV, said Bellwood, who initially thought Pickton was joking.

They later ate pork chops together, which Brooks said doesn't make sense if the conversation had really happened.

"You would never sit down and eat pork chops with Willie Pickton, who is cutting up and butchering his own pigs," Brooks said.

"You would stay away from him. You would be scared to death, at the one in one-billion chance that what he said accords with reality."

Brooks also argued the forensic evidence doesn't back up Bellwood's story: Andrea Joesbury, Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson, whose remains were found in buckets on the farm, were all shot in the head and a pathologist could find no proof they had been handcuffed.

Also, the Crown alleges that there was a blood-letting of Wilson inside Pickton's motorhome, but Brooks said Bellwood's story mentions only strangulation before the victims are taken to the slaughterhouse.

In addition, police found no wire or handcuffs under Pickton's bed when they searched his farm.
Brooks also argued Bellwood's story has changed over time, as he has told it repeatedly in court and to police. "This is where you catch people who aren't telling the truth," he said.

Brooks suggested the characters of Chubb and Bellwood lacked credibility because of their run-ins with the law and histories of telling lies in court.

"[Bellwood] is and remains, I say to you, a conman," Brooks said. "He is a leopard who has never changed his spots."

Finally, Brooks said the jury has heard evidence of many people coming and going from the farm, and asked why Pickton would choose to confide in Chubb and Bellwood. At least one defence witness has testified that Pickton didn't trust Chubb.

"Willie never trusted Scott Chubb and would have never had these conversations with him," Brooks' power-point presentation told the jurors.

Brooks said the defence will also challenge the statements Pickton made to police interrogators and to an undercover officer in his jail cell, which the Crown has called confessions.

"This is nothing like a confession. It's not a confession at all," Brooks said.
Brooks estimated his closing arguments will take two days, which means the jury will likely not begin deliberating until some time next week.

The Crown will be next to deliver its closing statements, followed by the judge who will deliver a three-day address to the jury.

Several relatives and friends of the victims are in court today.

Pickton, 58, is facing 26 counts of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

This trial is focusing on the deaths of six women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe and Marnie Frey. A second trial on 20 charges is expected later.

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