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Post by Sher on Jun 2, 2005 7:50:15 GMT -5
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- The judge in the Robert Pickton serial murder case stepped aside yesterday, delaying a pretrial hearing on a defence application for a publication ban until Friday.
Justice Geoffrey Barrow was recently appointed to the case and was scheduled to continue hearing arguments at a pretrial hearing yesterday when the surprise announcement came that he was stepping down.
Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm told lawyers that scheduling problems made it impossible for Barrow, a B.C. Supreme Court judge from Kelowna, to continue sitting on the case, which is expected to run well into next year.
Justice James Williams, who normally sits in New Westminster, will take over and resume hearings
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Post by Sher on Jun 8, 2005 17:23:12 GMT -5
Full publication ban in Pickton case rejected CTV.ca News Staff
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has rejected a bid from accused serial killer Robert Pickton's lawyers who wanted to impose an exceptionally tight publication ban on his trial.
Pickton's lawyers said they were worried that even though a publication ban would forbid Canadian media outlets from reporting on court proceedings, it would not stop Internet sites based outside of Canada to publish reports of what's heard in court.
But lawyers for various news organizations argued the ban the defence was seeking was unworkable. They also noted that, except for one incident early in proceedings, none of the sensational details from the preliminary hearing in 1993 have become wide public knowledge.
Justice James Williams of the B.C. Supreme Court decided that he would not call for a stiffer ban, noting that a section of the Criminal Code that spells out the scope of publication bans in pre-trial hearings is sufficient in the Pickton case.
Instead, he explicitly ordered the media not to report the names or addresses of websites where information from pre-trial hearings might be found, as the media have done in past cases where publications bans were in effect, particularly the Gomery inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal.
"In the event that I am wrong in that regard, however, I would exercise my common law jurisdiction to order a ban in the same terms ... with respect to the posting of information on the Internet,'' he said in his ruling.
CTV's Todd Battis says the defence's concerns appeared valid.
"Keep in mind how close the New Westminster and Vancouver area is to places like Seattle," he notes. Battis adds that there is nothing to stop American news outlets from reporting on the case.
"They're not constrained by the same publication ban being in another country so they report everything. They report all the salacious details and they put it on their website."
Pickton, 55, is charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
He has not yet formally pleaded to the charges or elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone. His trial is expected to start some time next year.
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Post by Sher on Aug 22, 2005 13:41:07 GMT -5
B.C. puts $10 million mortgage on accused killer's farm Last Updated Mon, 22 Aug 2005 06:59:39 EDT CBC News The Canadian Press is reporting that the B.C. government has put a mortgage worth $10 million on accused serial killer Robert Pickton's notorious pig farm to cover his publicly funded defence.
The government's mortgage was registered on Feb. 28, 2003, a year after police raided the farm and arrested Pickton.
Pickton is charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder related to women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in the 1990s. He has a seven-member legal team but has not yet entered a plea.
No one at the Attorney General's Ministry will say if the $10 million represents the estimated cost of Pickton's legal team.
The pig farm was valued at $5.9 million last fall by B.C. Assessment which tracks property values for tax purposes.
Pickton's lead defence lawyer, Peter Ritchie also would not discuss his funding arrangements with the government nor would he speculate on the defence's ultimate cost.
Pickton's trial won't start until sometime next year.
Pickton never qualified for legal aid because of his property holdings and business interests. The B.C. Legal Services Society normally pays defence lawyers $80 an hour on lengthy cases and $125 an hour for exceptional ones.
Ritchie launched what's known as a Robotham application in 2002, asking a judge to order Pickton to receive a publicly funded defence. The hearing ended in October 2002 with the B.C. Supreme Court ordering the Attorney General's Ministry to negotiate a funding arrangement directly with Ritchie.
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Post by Sher on Aug 25, 2005 13:59:39 GMT -5
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Post by Sher on Jan 30, 2006 19:57:22 GMT -5
VANCOUVER (AFP) - Pig farmer and accused serial killer Robert William Pickton pleaded "not guilty" in the grisly deaths of 27 sex trade workers who disappeared over years from Vancouver's notorious skid row.
Four years after being arrested by police at his family's pig farm in an investigation into the disappearances of more than 60 women, many of them drug addicts and prostitutes, Pickton stood in a bulletproof prisoner's box in the court and claimed innocence.
Family and friends of the victims thronged outside a court house in New Westminster, a suburb of this Western Canadian metropolis, as the proceedings began into what could be Canada's largest-ever serial murder case.
The defendant arrived from jail in a convoy of sheriff's vehicles, and was escorted into the court from a secure underground parking lot.
Pickton, 56, who made a living keeping and butchering pigs and working as an odd-job labourer, was an early suspect in the disappearances over 25 years of more than 60 women who spent time in Vancouver's squalid Downtown Eastside, Canada's most impoverished neighbourhood.
It is a place where drug dealers and sex trade workers sell their wares on the sidewalks, many are homeless or transient, and people who lack social and family networks can disappear for months before anyone notices them missing.
In 2001, amid a growing public clamour charging police and government neglect in the women's disappearances, a special police task force was formed.
In early 2002 the task force launched a massive raid on the farm Pickton and two siblings owned in Port Coquitlam, a bedroom community 35 kilometers (21 miles) east of Vancouver.
The investigation, which has at times involved more than 100 police and forensic scientists, uncovered the personal effects or remains of 31 women on the property.
In 2004, health authorities issued a public warning that they could not rule out the possibility that pig meat sold from Pickton's farm was not contaminated by human remains.
With more than 20 women still not accounted for, the police investigation continues. Forensic specialists continue to sift through material removed from Pickton's farm. Police have also said they have are following leads on more suspects.
A media blackout was set for first part of the proceedings which began Monday, the 'voir dire', in which government prosecutors and Pickton's defence team will spend months discussing what evidence can be admitted at trial.
Canadian judges routinely order such bans, so that potential jury members will not hear details before the trial.
The earliest that a jury can be chosen and the public portion of the trial begin is next September.
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Post by Sher on Dec 10, 2006 4:42:41 GMT -5
Accused B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton has pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree murder as the jury selection process began for his upcoming trial.
The 50-year-old pig farmer appeared at his arraignment hearing on the same day and at the same New Westminster courthouse where 600 prospective jurors lined up.
Pickton stood in the courtroom and spoke in muted tones, saying "not guilty" to each of the six charges he will face in the trial set to begin in January.
"He was quite soft-spoken when he read it out, but when asked whether he is guilty or not guilty of the murder of Serena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey, he replied to each count, 'not guilty'," CTV's Todd Battis reported Saturday.
Meanwhile, large crowds of media surrounded prospective jurors.
The potential jurors waited to be taken in groups of 30 to meet with Justice James Williams for instructions on when to return next week for additional proceedings.
"Honestly I don't want to be here but I have to be, so I guess we'll see what happens," one told CTV News.
"It's going to be a nice experience for me because I've never been in one," added another.
Of the 600 jurors, twelve actual and two alternate jurors will be chosen. The process is expected to take about a week, with actual selection to start Monday.
Speaking to the entire group, Williams stressed the importance of the service some of them would provide.
"One of your responsibilities as Canadian citizens is to participate in our system of justice by acting as jurors from time to time," he said. "Trial by jury is an ancient, honoured and important tradition in our society. It enables the justice system to draw on the common sense of men and women of the community."
Williams acknowledged the trial will "last a lengthy period" but said: "Nevertheless, that sacrifice is the price we pay in a free, democratic country."
In total, court officials sent out 3,500 jury duty summonses. Of those, they dismissed 2,900 candidates for reasons that included health issues or an inability to speak English.
"What you ultimately want is an impartial group of jurors who are able to set aside any of their preconceptions about any events," said local defence lawyer Ian Donaldson.
A long trial
Pickton's trial is expected to last a year.
While Pickton is to be tried on six charges, he faces 26 murder charges in total.
Williams thought that would be too much for one trial, so he decided to proceed on six charges, with the others held for a later trial.
This trial has been a long time in coming. Police first descended on Pickton's pig farm in the winter of 2002. They spent two years searching for evidence.
Pickton's alleged victims are mostly sex trade workers who disappeared from Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside.
"I thought I would see this day but I've been waiting a long time. It's been almost five years since the accused was arrested," said Elaine Allen, a drop-in centre worker.
The lag time worried Peter Ritchie, Pickton's lawyer.
"I don't know any other case where this has happened," he said.
"It's probably because of the amount of information that had to be collected and processed and analyzed to get us to this state. It's very worrisome that that takes place."
CTV Vancouver's Kate Corcoran reported that 270 media personnel have been accredited for this trial, but only 12 are from outside of Canada.
But that might not be a true indication of the international interest in the trial. Corcoran said local freelance writers have been hired to cover this trial for some foreign media outlets.
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Post by Sher on Jan 22, 2007 19:55:29 GMT -5
Crown says Pickton confessed to killing 49 22/01/2007 7:21:56 PM
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The Crown will present taped evidence that Robert Pickton confessed to an undercover police officer that he killed 49 women and wanted to commit one more murder to make it an even 50, a B.C. court heard on Monday.
Artist's drawing show accused serial killer Robert Pickton in the prioner's box during the first day of his trial at B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminister Monday January 22, 2007.(CP / Artist-Jane Wolsak) Jurors were told that the interview will be played before court.
Pickton also allegedly told the undercover officer who posed as a cell mate in Surrey, B.C., that he made his own grave by being "sloppy."
Crown counsel Derrill Prevett told jurors in his opening statement on Monday that police found the skulls of Sereena Abotsway and Andrea Joesbury stuffed inside plastic pails when they searched Pickton's pig farm.
The prosecutor also told the jury that police, using a search warrant for firearms, found two freezers, and inside were two five-gallon pails with human heads inside.
Police had to call in the missing women's task force and get another search warrant before they could launch an extensive search of the property.
In laying out its case, the Crown also said:
Wilsons' remains were found in a bag at the bottom of a garbage can.
Authorities also found running shoes and a cross that belonged to Wilson in Pickton's trailer, the prosecutor said.
A number of bones mixed with debris and manure were found in the farm's slaughter house in July 2002, court heard. A total of 14 human hand bones were found in the area, including a left hand and wrist that belonged to Georgina Papin.
Prevett said three teeth found during the excavation of the ground matched the DNA of Marnie Frey.
Additional human bones found near the slaughterhouse matched no one identified as missing in the women's task force, he said.
"These murders of these six women were the work of one man, the accused, Robert William Pickton,'' Prevett said in his statement.
"He had the expertise and equipment for the task. He had the means of transportation available and the means for the disposal of their remains.''
Defence statements
In its opening statement, the defence team told the jury they will be vigorously refuting the Crown's case.
Pickton did not kill nor participate in the murders of the six women, the defence team told the jury.
The defence will be contesting what the Crown suggests are the facts in this case, court heard on Monday.
Lead lawyer for the defence team, Peter Ritchie, instructed jurors to pay close attention to Pickton's intellectual competence and his level of understanding.
Ritchie also told jurors they were not given the full picture of the conversation Pickton had with the undercover officer.
The first witness
The first witness told jurors the case posed some unique challenges in the early going.
RCMP Insp. Don Adam said Vancouver Police had launched Project Amelia to investigate the disappearances of 10 women and in 1999 found nine had simply relocated and weren't missing at all.
"So Project Amelia believed they (the disappearances) had stopped,'' Adam testified.
He said without bodies or evidence, police had a hard time knowing how to proceed. Investigators also weren't helped by an inadequate DNA databank.
But in the summer of 2001, after the RCMP had joined the Vancouver force to form Project Evenhanded, Adam said he was asked by the Crown if the women were simply missing or were the victims of homicide.
Adam said this number of missing women didn't exist in other jurisdictions.
"I concluded they were murder victims,'' he testified.
Families turn up for trial
Earlier on Monday, Justice James Williams' ruled the family members of the six women alleged to have been killed by Pickton won't be excluded from the opening arguments.
Williams' first order of business was to ask both Crown and defence counsel to weigh in on the fact that the family members summoned as witnesses are technically to be excluded from trial until their testimony.
The subpoenas prevent them from sitting in the courtroom until they have testified, lest they hear testimony that could influence their own.
Williams said that while witnesses will be asked to leave court when evidence is controversial, it will not be necessary to exclude families "for purely formulaic reasons."
He intends to decide later whether the witnesses will be excluded from the entire trial.
The judge also warned jurors that evidence in the trial will likely be distressing but that they must be careful to stay impartial.
"Some of the evidence to which you will be exposed to during the trial will be shocking and is likely to be upsetting. I must ask each of you to deal with that the best you can," Williams said as the jury trial began.
"It may arouse feelings of revulsion and hostility that can overwhelm the objective and impartial approach that jurors are expected to bring to their task.
"You should be aware of that possibility and ensure it does not happen to you," he told the seven men and five women.
Williams also told the jury panel they may consider only evidence they hear and see in the courtroom.
He told the jurors to avoid all media coverage of the case and not to discuss the case with anyone.
The judge also issued a warning to the media and read out the publication bans issued during the Pickton legal process.
"It is not my intention to stand by and simply see the court orders flouted. I believe that members of the media will approach this matter responsibly," said Williams.
In his opening address to the jurors, the judge also outlined court procedure and explained terms that will come up during the trial.
On Monday morning, Pickton arrived at the New Westminster, B.C. courthouse where a jury will begin hearing arguments in his murder trial today.
He faces first-degree murder charges in the slayings of six women, who are Marnie Frey, Sereena Abotsway, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe and Mona Wilson.
Pickton also stands accused in the murders of 20 other women but no trial date has been set on those charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. None of the allegations has been proven in court.
The trial, which is on course to be one of the largest, longest, and most expensive trial in Canadian history, has drawn unprecedented international attention.
Watching from the wings will be about 350 reporters, photographers and technical media representatives -- including correspondents from the British Press Association, Court TV, The Economist, Germany-based ARD television, BBC radio and TV, The Washington Post and The New York Times -- who have been accredited to report on the trial.
With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press
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Post by Sher on Jan 23, 2007 19:28:36 GMT -5
Pickton described allegations as 'hogwash' 23/01/2007 5:59:25 PM
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In a videotaped interview with police, Robert Pickton described any connection between himself and missing women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside as "hogwash."
"You are being investigated for upwards of 50 other disappearances and or murders," Fordy said.
"In your own words, Rob, can you explain to me what that means to you?"
"What it means to me. Hogwash," Pickton answered.
There were two temporary adjournments in the playback: One because of poor audio quality and another because the video cut out.
The Crown gave jurors a transcript of the interview, which was conducted in the Surrey, B.C. RCMP detachment office in February 2002 -- right after his arrest on two charges of first-degree murder.
"The recording is before you as a statement of Mr. Pickton," Justice James Williams said.
"The evidence is what you find. It will be for you to decide whether he spoke truthfully."
In the video, when Fordy tells Pickton police are investigating him in the cases of 50 missing women, Pickton laughs.
Pickton tells the officer that he is just "a plain working guy."
During the interview, Pickton is seen sitting in a chair against a wall, his legs straight in front of him and his hands clasped on his lap.
The interrogation continues with the officer asking Pickton to tell him about his life.
On the tape, Pickton tells him he is not sure what to say, but he adds that he is "into pigs" and that he is not a "bad dude." He even said at one point that pork is his favourite meat.
Pickton then tells Fordy that if he could turn time around, he would change a few things.
But he adds that he didn't think he "did anything wrong."
The interview was conducted early in the investigation, when police had not completed their search of Pickton's property.
"So far, we're 34 pages into a 252-page transcript," CTV's Kate Corcoran told Newsnet from the courthouse.
She said Pickton spoke about his deceased mother, a one-time girlfriend and his appreciation of hard workers.
The audio in the courtroom is very difficult to hear. Just before the lunch break, the media asked for a transcript so they could quote Pickton accurately, she said.
Pickton's demeanour in the courtroom didn't change as he watched himself in the video. "Very reserved, didn't move," Corcoran said.
In the video, "he never speaks directly to the investigator," she said.
Crown's allegations
In its opening statement on Monday, Crown counsel told the jury that Pickton made incriminating remarks during the 11-hour police interview after he was arrested in February 2002.
In lengthy conversations before and after the interview, Pickton allegedly told an undercover police officer planted in his cell that he killed 49 women and wanted to commit one more murder to make it an even 50.
Pickton also allegedly told the undercover officer who posed as a cellmate that he made his own grave by being "sloppy."
The 57-year-old faces first-degree murder charges in the slayings of six women: Marnie Frey, Sereena Abotsway, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe and Mona Wilson.
Pickton, from suburban Port Coquitlam, B.C., also stands accused in the murders of 20 other women but no trial date has been set on those charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. None of the allegations has been proven in court.
While there are more members of the public in the courtroom on Tuesday, including a visiting high school class, there were fewer family members, Corcoran reported.
Crown counsel Derrill Prevett told jurors in his opening statement on Monday that DNA analysis had identified the remains of each of the six women Pickton is accused of killing in this trial.
With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press
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Post by Sher on Jan 24, 2007 2:50:49 GMT -5
In a videotaped February 2002 interview with police, Robert Pickton said he couldn't say if any of the nearly 50 women police had on a giant poster board in front of him had ever been on his property.
Pickton said of one: "She's a dark girl, isn't she? Sometimes black, sometimes Spanish."
RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill Fordy said: "I believe her name's Sarah."
Sarah de Vries went missing in 1998. While Pickton has been charged in her death, her case is not one of the six for which he is currently on trial.
In the interview shown Tuesday at Pickton's murder trial in New Westminster, B.C., Pickton described any connection between himself and missing women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside as "hogwash."
The Crown has said it will prove that evidence of the remains of the six women Pickton is accused of killing were found either in his trailer or on his land in Port Coquitlam, B.C.. The defence asserts that Pickton did not kill or participate in the killing of the women.
Pickton told Fordy he was being set up.
"You are being investigated for upwards of 50 other disappearances and or murders," Fordy said. "In your own words, Rob, can you explain to me what that means to you?"
"What it means to me. Hogwash," Pickton answered.
There were three temporary adjournments during the playing of the interview due to technical troubles. The Crown gave jurors a transcript of the interview, which was conducted in the Surrey, B.C. RCMP detachment office -- right after his arrest on two charges of first-degree murder.
"The recording is before you as a statement of Mr. Pickton," Justice James Williams said. "The evidence is what you find. It will be for you to decide whether he spoke truthfully."
In the video, when Fordy tells Pickton police are investigating him in the cases of 50 missing women, Pickton laughs.
Pickton tells the officer that he is just "a plain working guy."
During the interview, Pickton is seen sitting in a chair against a wall, his legs straight in front of him and his hands clasped on his lap.
The interrogation continues with the officer asking Pickton to tell him about his life.
On the tape, Pickton tells him he is not sure what to say, but he adds that he is "into pigs" and that "I am a bad dude." He even said at one point that pork is his favourite meat.
He admitted to being stabbed in 1997.
Pickton then tells Fordy that if he could turn time around, he would change a few things.
But he adds that he didn't think he "did anything wrong."
The interview was conducted early in the investigation, when police had not completed their search of Pickton's property.
CTV's Kate Corcoran told Newsnet from the courthouse that so far, the jury has heard more than three hours of an 11-hour interview.
She said Pickton spoke about his deceased mother, a one-time girlfriend and his appreciation of hard workers.
The audio in the courtroom is very difficult to hear. Just before the lunch break, the media asked for a transcript so they could quote Pickton accurately, she said.
Pickton's demeanour in the courtroom didn't change as he watched himself in the video. "Very reserved, didn't move," Corcoran said.
In the video, "he never speaks directly to the investigator," she said.
The sisters of alleged victim Georgina Papin attended court.
"Sick to my stomach, my stomach started turning," Cynthia Cardinal said. "Just to hear his voice for the first time like that it's really disturbing."
Added Elana Papin: "When he giggles or laughs it a little bit disturbing."
Crown's allegations
In its opening statement on Monday, Crown counsel told the jury that Pickton made incriminating remarks during the 11-hour police interview after he was arrested in February 2002.
In lengthy conversations before and after the interview, Pickton allegedly told an undercover police officer planted in his cell that he killed 49 women and wanted to commit one more murder to make it an even 50.
Pickton also allegedly told the undercover officer who posed as a cellmate that he made his own grave by being "sloppy."
The 57-year-old faces first-degree murder charges in the slayings of six women: Marnie Frey, Sereena Abotsway, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe and Mona Wilson.
Pickton, from suburban Port Coquitlam, B.C., also stands accused in the murders of 20 other women but no trial date has been set on those charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. None of the allegations has been proven in court.
While there are more members of the public in the courtroom on Tuesday, including a visiting high school class, there were fewer family members, Corcoran reported.
With a report from CTV's Lisa LaFlamme and files from The Canadian Press
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Post by Sher on Jan 24, 2007 21:47:01 GMT -5
The courtroom gallery sat transfixed as the video of police interrogating Robert Pickton shifted into a more intense gear.
"At one point Fordy says: 'Your DNA is with hers. You're done, done, done. Done like dinner -- like roast pork'," CTV's Todd Battis told Newsnet on Wednesday.
Warning: Disturbing content in this story. Reader discretion is advised Fordy was referring to the DNA of Mona Wilson. Police had arrested and charged Pickton with the murder of Wilson and Sereena Abotsway.
Ultimately Pickton would be charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder. He is on trial in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C. right now on six counts.
The interview took place at the RCMP detachment in Surrey, B.C. in February 2002, early in the investigation when police had not completed their search of Pickton's property.
Battis said the jury had viewed more than six hours of the video by mid-day on Wednesday.
In the video, Fordy showed Pickton photos taken by investigators of the motor home on the pig farmer's Port Coquitlam property.
Fordy showed him a photo of a blood pool and said it belonged to Wilson.
"It's huge amounts of blood, Rob," Fordy said, adding it was Mona Wilson's blood. "This is a crime scene dream come true."
Pickton responded by saying, "But that don't mean I did it. I didn't do anything, I don't know her ... I don't know her face or anything else."
He said he hadn't been in the motor home "for quite a spell, quite a spell, quite a spell."
The jurors watched the video intently. Some followed along on a thick transcript.
Besides Wilson and Abbotsway, the 57-year-old is on trial for the deaths of Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury and Brenda Wolfe.
Fordy also told Pickton: "You are bigger than the Pope, you're bigger than Princess Diana, you're just like f**kin' Bin Laden. You know you're on the front page of every paper in the country today. Every one."
"I'm in the paper today?" Pickton responded. He later interrupted Fordy by blurting out: "So my picture is all over the front page. nuts."
On the tape, Pickton admitted to owning a .22-calibre weapon and said he used the gun to kill pigs.
A few times, the accused said he shouldn't be talking and that he wanted to return to his cell. Fordy immediately reminded Pickton that while he didn't have to say anything, he was duty-bound to ask questions.
After being pressured by Fordy, Pickton said: "... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for living. And ah, you know, if I can, I'll take my life for any one of those people just to, just to have them alive. So ... sorry."
Tuesday's evidence
The jury began viewing video of the interrogation on Tuesday.
In the part of the interview shown that day, Pickton described any connection between himself and missing women as "hogwash."
However, he did appear to recognize one woman on a poster board of photos who had gone missing in 1998 -- and is one of the other 20 women Pickton has been accused of murdering.
No trial date has been set on those charges.
In its opening statement on Monday, Crown counsel told the jury that Pickton made incriminating remarks during the 11-hour police interview, recorded after he was arrested in February 2002.
In lengthy conversations before and after the interview, Pickton allegedly told an undercover police officer planted in his cell that he killed 49 women and wanted to commit one more murder to make it an even 50.
With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press
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Post by Sher on Jan 25, 2007 19:23:39 GMT -5
Jurors in the Robert Pickton trial have heard the accused tell police he got "sloppy" cleaning up, near the end of an 11-hour interrogation as police grilled him about DNA and body parts found on his farm.
The accused makes another apparent admission about nine hours into the interview, recorded on February 2002.
Adam -- one of several officers taking turns questioning Pickton -- asks how many women he thinks he's killed.
Pickton responds: "You're making me more of a mass killer than I am."
That comment differs from what jurors heard on Tuesday, when they watched the first few hours of his interrogation video and Pickton dismissed any connection between himself and the missing women as "hogwash."
Warning: Disturbing content in this story. Reader discretion is advised. Pickton is charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder. He is on trial in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C. right now on six counts.
At another point in the video aired Thursday, Adam points at images of 48 missing women and asks Pickton to "touch the ones you've done."
He also tells Pickton that a former friend, Lynn Ellingsen, has told police she saw him skinning the body of a slain woman, and that investigators knew Ellingsen was blackmailing him.
Adam also says that people claim to have seen Pickton sexually assaulting dead women.
"Yeah, right," Pickton laughs.
But when Adam says investigators have collected a large amount of evidence on the farm, Pickton again appears to make an admission, saying: "I made my own grave."
Adam suggests that Pickton hated prostitutes because they attacked him with a knife, stole from him, and infected him with Hepatitis C. The judge told jurors not to consider Adam's statements as evidence.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill Fordy is the first officer seen to interrogate Pickton on the video, trying to relate to the accused before switching to a more aggressive tone.
At one point, Fordy says Pickton's DNA was found along with the DNA of Mona Wilson, one of the women he is charged with killing.
"Your DNA is with hers. You're done, done, done. Done like dinner -- like roast pork," he says, adding that investigators found large amounts of Wilson's blood.
Pickton responds: "But that don't mean I did it. I didn't do anything, I don't know her ... I don't know her face or anything else."
Besides Wilson, Pickton is on trial for the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury and Brenda Wolfe.
On the interrogation video, Pickton admits to owning a .22-calibre weapon and said he used the gun to kill pigs.
A few times, the accused says he shouldn't be talking and that he wants to return to his cell.
But Fordy reminds Pickton that while he doesn't have to say anything, the officer is duty-bound to ask questions.
After one intense period, Pickton says: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for living. And ah, you know, if I can, I'll take my life for any one of those people just to, just to have them alive. So ... sorry."
In its opening statement on Monday, Crown counsel told the jury that Pickton made incriminating remarks during the 11-hour police interview after he was arrested in February 2002.
With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press
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Post by Sher on Jan 31, 2007 17:35:05 GMT -5
RCMP sergeant admits lying to Pickton David Carrigg, CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Defence lawyer Peter Ritchie told court Wednesday morning that accused serial killer Robert Pickton’s lawyer was inside the Surrey RCMP detachment during Pickton’s post-arrest interview five years ago.
The 11-hour interview was conducted on Feb. 23, 2002, a day after Pickton was arrested on murder charges.
A recording of the interview was played in court last week and contained a series of stunning comments by Pickton, including that he "got sloppy" with the "last one."
Responding to Ritchie, interviewer Staff Sgt. Bill Fordy confirmed that he knew the lawyer was in the building and that he tried to persuade Pickton not to follow legal advice — which was to not speak to police.
"You wouldn’t get very far if the lawyer’s advice not to speak to the police was reinforced," Ritchie told Fordy.
Ritchie then probed Fordy over a series of lies and misstatements the officer made during the marathon interview.
Fordy said he made a dozen misstatements and told half a dozen lies.
Ritchie asked Fordy "are there so many lies you can’t remember them. I suggest you lied as much as you could."
Fordy responded, "I did lie to Mr. Pickton, but I did not fabricate evidence with regards to Mr. Pickton."
"I lied to Mr. Pickton on a number of occasions. I lied about the death of my mother. I lied when I said I wouldn’t lie to him because I did lie to him. I misstated a number of things with respect to the investigation," Fordy said.
He said he lied in a bid to establish rapport with Pickton, which is a police interview technique.
Fordy said Pickton did not fall asleep or cry at any time during the interview. He said that if Pickton did not understand Fordy’s questions, he would ask for clarification.
Pickton stared at Fordy during his testimony and took notes on a legal pad. At one point, Pickton handed a note to a sheriff and it was delivered to one of his lawyers.
Justice James Williams warned jurors before the interview tape was played last week that Pickton’s words in the interview were to be considered evidence in the case, not the questions posed by the police officers interrogating him.
Ritchie earlier stated that his client had made "inculpatory" statements during the interview, meaning statements that suggest guilt.
Fordy revealed Pickton’s DNA was collected by undercover officers while he was under surveillance between his Feb. 7 weapons arrest and his Feb. 22 arrest for murder.
Earlier Wednesday, Fordy told a Crown prosecutor that the interview was long, but that it was not uncommon for an interview to last that long.
A recording of the interview was played in court last week and contained a series of stunning comments by Pickton, including "you’re making me out to be more of a murderer than I really am."
When Insp. Don Adam, who also questioned Pickton, asked the suspect what he should tell the victim’s families, Pickton responded "nuts happens".
Highlights from this week in court include:
• Pickton’s brother Dave told police he knew about "bodies" and showed investigators where to look.
• Police investigated links between Pickton and the Hells Angels.
• Pickton had at least five female associates — Dinah Taylor, Lynn Ellingsen, Lisa Yeles, Gina Houston and Nancy Plasman. Ellingsen is expected to testify against Pickton, while Taylor refused to co-operate.
• Taylor, Ellingsen and another Pickton associate, Pat Casanova, were arrested on suspicion of murder but no charges were laid.
• Police received confidential information that men were involved in "blood sport" at the Pickton farm that involved killing women.
Pickton, 57, who ran a pig-butchering business on his family’s Port Coquitlam, B.C., farm, is on trial in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C., for the first six of the 26 first-degree murders he’s now charged with.
Within six months of the February 2002 interview, police found three of the missing women’s heads and their hands and feet on the Pickton farm.
Police also recovered DNA from bones on the farm that matched the DNA from a skull found on the side of the road in Mission, B.C., in 1985.
Pickton accepts those body parts were found on the property but he denies he killed the women.
Pickton is currently being tried for the murder of Andrea Joesbury, Mona Wilson, Sereena Abotsway, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin and Brenda Wolfe.
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Post by Sher on Jan 31, 2007 17:41:10 GMT -5
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Post by Sher on Feb 9, 2007 23:40:52 GMT -5
Court quotes By SUN MEDIA
"It must have occurred to you that we're dealing with a pretty simple-minded fellow here ... You can't tell if he's telling a real story or recounting a story how a complete idiot would recount it." - Defence lawyer Peter Ritchie to an undercover RCMP officer who shared a cell with Robert Pickton.
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"Mr. Pickton didn't need encouraging. Mr. Pickton did a very good job of bragging himself." - Undercover officer.
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"You said you hate lawyers. You know you said that."
- Peter Ritchie grills the undercover RCMP officer.
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"Are you telling me they take your pants off and throw you in the shower?" - A confused Pickton asking if he'll be forced to shower.
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Post by Sher on Mar 31, 2007 0:46:39 GMT -5
VANCOUVER (CP) - Some were curious and others insisted they could care less, but everyone was able to hear for the first time Friday how accused serial murderer Robert (Willie) Pickton sounds when he speaks.
Many people have seen his picture in the news but only those who know him have heard his voice - until a decision this week by Justice James Williams to allow the audio portion of a tape Pickton made in 1991 to be released. "Personally I could care less," said Rick Frey, father of Marnie Frey, one of the six women on the first indictment against Pickton.
But Frey, who lives on Vancouver Island, said some families of the 26 women Pickton is accused of killing may well be interested in the tape, which contains ramblings and musings from Pickton about everything from life to work to cherry pie.
"I know a lot of the families have said they've never heard him say anything."
Pickton is currently on trial on six of the 26 first-degree murder counts. The jury in his first trial has heard the tape, which police have referred to it in the past as "Willie's memoirs."
For Marilyn Kraft, stepmother of Cindy Feliks, Friday's release was a non-event.
"I don't need to hear his voice or what he says," she insisted.
But Wayne Leng, who operated a website devoted to missing women and was a friend of Sarah de Vries, one of the 20 on the second indictment, admitted to being curious.
"I've never heard his voice and I want to hear what he has to say."
The tape was introduced by the Crown into evidence as a letter dictated to a woman named Victoria on Dec. 28, 1991. Her last name is unknown.
It has not been made clear at the trial why he made the tape or whether he sent it to the woman.
Pickton introduced himself on it as Bob Pickton from Vancouver and thanked Victoria for her Christmas card. He also shared his memories of the past and hopes for the future.
He spoke rapidly but generally clearly, although his poor diction in some instances resulted in portions being hard to understand.
Pickton talked of many things, including the state of the world and his amazement at computers. He spoke about a trip to the United States and spent a lot of the time talking about different jobs he's had.
The media applied to have the tape released for broadcast and it was not opposed by the Crown or the defence.
Rob Papin, an Edmonton resident and cousin of Georgina Papin, one of the six women on the indictment in the current trial, has already seen the accused in person.
"There are a lot of misconceptions out there about (his personality), so it might help a lot of families," he said.
In the tape, Pickton talked about Canada being a new country and that he'd like to go down to the old country, which he characterized as being the Third World.
"That's what I'm trying to get into it, is know more about where we went off from the new country to the old country. Because there's a lot of things. There's big changes between here and there."
Pickton has been in custody since February 2002 when police descended on his farm and unleashed the massive investigation that led to him being charged in connection with the disappearances of women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Vancouver defence lawyer Mark Jette, who has no connection with the trial, said it is not surprising that the judge would release the tape. Neither the Crown nor defence opposed it.
"I don't see where the Crown would care one way or the other," said Jette. "I would see where the defence might although the defence might be of the view it adds human qualities to the guy."
The media has applied for the release of many other exhibits that have been seen by the jury but the judge has only released some.
Williams still has not ruled on whether to release the video police took of Pickton being interrogated after his arrest, as well as statements he made to a police officer planted in his cell.
A second trial is planned on the remaining 20 counts against the pig farmer and Jette said "you've got to draw on a jury pool out there that's been exposed to even more media than they've already been exposed to."
Michael Mulligan, a Victoria defence lawyer not connected to the case, said that because the justice system is open to the public there is nothing unusual about this audio exhibits being released.
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