Robert Pickton
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Robert William Pickton (October 24, 1949 – May 31, 2024), also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher, was a Canadian
serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
and pig farmer. After dropping out of school, he left a butcher's apprenticeship to begin working full-time at his family's pig farm, and inherited it in the early 1990s. Between 1995 and 2001, Pickton is believed to have murdered at least 26 women, many of them
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
s from
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
's Downtown Eastside. Pickton would confess to 49 murders to an undercover
RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
officer disguised as a cellmate, going on to say he wanted to make it an even 50, but thought he was caught because he got "sloppy". In 2007, he was convicted on six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years—the longest possible sentence for second-degree murder under Canadian law at the time. In 2010, the Crown attorney officially stayed the remaining 20 murder charges, allowing previously unrevealed information to be made available to the public, including that Pickton previously had a 1997
attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...
charge dropped. Crown prosecutors reasoned that staying the additional charges made the most sense, since Pickton was already serving the maximum sentence allowable. The discovery of Pickton's crimes sparked widespread outrage and forced the Canadian government to acknowledge the crisis of
missing and murdered Indigenous women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples s ...
, with the
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
provincial government forming the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry to examine the role of the police in the matter. Pickton died in 2024 after being attacked in prison by another inmate.


Early life and criminal history

Robert Pickton was born on October 24, 1949, to Leonard Francis Pickton (1896–1977) and Louise Helene Arnal (1912–1979), a family of pig farmers in
Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, east of
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
. Pickton's older sister, Linda Louise Wright, was sent off to live with relatives in Vancouver as their parents thought that the family pig farm would be an inappropriate setting to raise a young girl. Robert and his younger brother, David Francis Pickton, began working at the farm at an early age, and their mother was very demanding, prioritizing the pigs over the brothers' personal hygiene, and forcing them to work long hours raising the farm's livestock. Louise often sent the brothers to school in unwashed dirty clothes, reeking of manure and earning them the nickname "stinky piggy" from their classmates. Robert was strongly attached to her and rarely interacted with his abusive father. He struggled in school, being put in a special class after failing grade two. At the age of 12, he began raising a calf which became his beloved pet. Two weeks later, after not finding it after school, he was told to check the barn, and was distraught to find it slaughtered. Pickton dropped out of school in 1963 and began working as a meat cutter. He continued to do so for nearly seven years before leaving to work full-time at the farm. In 1978 and 1979, the parents died and the siblings inherited the pig farm, selling parts for C$5.16million. Worker Bill Hiscox called the farm a "creepy-looking place" patrolled by a 612-pound
boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
and described Pickton as a "pretty quiet guy, hard to strike up a conversation with", whose occasional bizarre behaviour, despite no evidence of
substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...
, would draw attention. Pickton became wealthy by selling parts of his farmland to property developers as the economy of the Lower Mainland grew exponentially in the 1980s1990s. He often hosted parties at an ad hoc nightclub called Piggy's Palace, which attracted the political and economic elites of the Lower Mainland along with the Hells Angels. Starting in the 1990s, women living in the Lower Mainland, most notably on the impoverished Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, had started to go missing, leading to speculation in the media that a serial killer was operating. The majority of the missing women were Indigenous women, women with substance use disorders, and sex workers. On March 23, 1997, Pickton was charged with the
attempted murder Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions. Canada Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...
of sex worker Wendy Lynn Eistetter, whom he had stabbed 4 times during an altercation at the farm. She told police he had handcuffed her, and that she had escaped after suffering several lacerations. She told them she had disarmed him and stabbed him with his weapon. He sought treatment at Eagle Ridge Hospital, while Eistetter recovered at the nearest emergency room. Pickton was released on C$2,000 bond and the attempted-murder charge against him was stayed on January 27, 1998, because Eistetter had drug addiction issues and prosecutors believed her too unstable for her testimony to help secure a conviction. David Pickton was convicted of
sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...
in 1992, being fined C$1,000 and given 30 days'
probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...
. In that case the victim told police that David had attacked her in his trailer at the pig farm, but she managed to escape. Robert had also been sued three times for traffic offences in 1988 and 1991, settling all three claims out of court. The Pickton brothers were eventually sued by Port Coquitlam officials for violating
zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...
ordinances—neglecting the agriculture for which it had been zoned, and having "altered a large farm building on the land for the purpose of holding dances, concerts and other recreations". They had begun to neglect the site's farming operations and registered a non-profit charity, the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, with the
Canadian government The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes ministers of the Crown ( ...
in 1996, claiming to "organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups". Its events included raves and wild parties featuring Vancouver sex workers and gatherings in a converted
slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...
on the farm at 953 Dominion Avenue in Port Coquitlam. These events attracted as many as 2,000 people and members of the
Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells ...
were known to frequent the farm. Subsequently, the Pickton brothers ignored growing legal pressure and held a 1998 New Year's Eve party, after which they were faced with an
injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
banning future parties; the police were "authorized to arrest and remove any person" attending future events at the farm. The society's non-profit status was removed the following year, for inability to produce financial statements. It was subsequently disbanded. An employee of Pickton found several purses belonging to the missing women from the Downtown Eastside and reported Pickton to the police. The police conducted three searches of the farm, but found no evidence. In June 1999, the police received a tip that Pickton had a freezer full of human flesh in his farmhouse, which the police ignored.


Discovery and investigation

On February 6, 2002, police executed a
search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...
for illegal firearms at the Pickton property. Both Pickton brothers were arrested and police obtained a second warrant using what they had seen on the property to search the farm as part of the BC Missing Women Investigation. Personal items belonging to missing women were found at the farm, which was sealed off by members of the joint
RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
Vancouver Police Department The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) () is the police force in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the provinc ...
task force. The following day, Pickton was charged with weapons offences. Both Picktons were later released and Robert was kept under police surveillance. On February 22, 2002, Robert Pickton was arrested again and charged with two counts of
first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. On April 2, three more charges were added for the murders of Jacqueline McDonell, Dianne Rock, and Heather Bottomley. A sixth for the murder of Andrea Joesbury was laid on April 9, followed shortly by a seventh for Brenda Wolfe. On September 20, four more were added for Georgina Papin, Patricia Johnson, Helen Hallmark, and Jennifer Furminger. Another four for Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving, and Inga Hall were laid on October 3. On May 26, 2005, 12 more came for Cara Ellis, Andrea Borhaven, Debra Lynne Jones, Marnie Frey, Tiffany Drew, Kerry Koski, Sarah de Vries, Cynthia Feliks, Angela Jardine, Wendy Crawford, Diana Melnick, and
Jane Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...
, bringing the total to 27. Excavations continued at the farm through November 2003; the cost of the investigation is estimated to have been C$70million by the end of 2003, according to the provincial government. The property was fenced off under
lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...
by the Crown in Right of British Columbia and remained so as-of 2023. In the meantime, all the buildings on the property, except a small barn, had been demolished.
Forensic analysis Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...
proved difficult because the bodies may have been left to decompose, or be eaten by insects and pigs on the farm. During the early days of the excavations, forensic anthropologists brought in heavy equipment, including two 50-foot (15-metre) flat conveyor belts and soil sifters to find traces of human remains. On March 10, 2004, the government revealed that Pickton may have ground up human flesh and mixed it with pork that he sold to the public; the province's health authority later issued a warning."'Human meat' alert at pig farm"
, BBC News. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
"Alert issued about meat from Pickton's pig farm"
, ''The Globe and Mail''. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
"Human remains from Pickton farm may have reached food supply"
, ''The Globe and Mail''. Retrieved May 16, 2015
Another claim was made that he fed the bodies directly to his pigs."Canadian pig farmer guilty of serial killings"
. ''The Australian'', Obtained on July 31, 2018.
In 2003, a
preliminary hearing In common law jurisdictions, a preliminary hearing, preliminary examination, preliminary inquiry, evidentiary hearing or probable cause hearing is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecutor, to determine whether the ...
was held and the clothes and rubber boots that Pickton had been wearing during the Eistetter assault were seized by police from an RCMP storage locker. In 2004, lab testing showed that the DNA of two women (Borhaven and Ellis) were on the items.


Trial

Pickton's trial began on January 30, 2006, in
New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the cap ...
. Pickton pleaded not guilty to the 27 charges of first-degree murder in the
Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...
. The ''
voir dire (; often ; from an Anglo-Norman term in common law meaning "to speak the truth") is a legal term for procedures during a trial that help a judge decide certain issues: * Prospective jurors are questioned to decide whether they can be fair and i ...
'' phase of the trial took most of the year to determine what evidence might be admitted before the jury. Reporters were not allowed to disclose any of the material presented in the arguments. On March 17, one of the counts was rejected by Justice James Williams for lack of evidence. On August 9, Justice Williams severed the charges, splitting them into one group of six counts and another of twenty. The trial proceeded on the group of six counts. The remaining 20 were stayed on August 4, 2010. Because of the publication ban, full details of the decision were not made publicly available, but Justice Williams explained that trying all 26 charges at once would put an unreasonable burden on the jury as the trial could have lasted up to two years; it would also have increased the possibility of
mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
. The initial date for the jury trial on the first six counts was January 8, 2007, but it was postponed to January 22. On that date, Pickton faced
first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
charges in the deaths of Frey, Abotsway, Papin, Joesbury, Wolfe, and Wilson. The media ban was eventually lifted, and the details of what was found during the investigation were publicly released: *During Pickton's trial, lab staff testified that about eighty unidentified DNA profiles, roughly half male and half female, have been detected on evidence. *A loaded .22 revolver with a
dildo A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with sex partners. Dildos are made from a number of materials. The shape and size are typically t ...
over the barrel and one round fired, boxes of .357 Magnum handgun ammunition, night-vision goggles, two pairs of faux fur-lined handcuffs, a
syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...
with three millilitres of blue liquid inside, and " Spanish fly"
aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases libido, sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. These substances range from a variety of plants, spices, and foods to synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs, such as ...
were found inside Pickton's trailer. In a videotaped recording played for the jury, Pickton claimed to have attached the dildo to his weapon as a makeshift silencer; this explanation was impractical at best, as revolvers are near-impossible to silence in this manner. *A videotape of Pickton's friend Scott Chubb saying Pickton had told him a good way to kill a female heroin addict was to inject her with windshield washer fluid. A second tape was played for Pickton, in which an associate named Andrew Bellwood said Pickton mentioned killing
sex workers A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is vo ...
by handcuffing and strangling them, then bleeding and gutting them before feeding them to pigs. *Photos of the contents of a garbage can found in Pickton's slaughterhouse, which held some remains of victim Mona Wilson. On December 9, 2007, the jury found Pickton not guilty on six counts of first-degree murder, but he was found guilty on six counts of second-degree murder. On December 11, 2007, after reading eighteen
victim impact statement A victim impact statement is a written or oral statement made as part of the judicial legal process, which allows crime victims the opportunity to speak during the sentencing of the convicted person or at subsequent parole hearings. Overview One ...
s, British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Justice James Williams sentenced Pickton to
life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
with no possibility of parole for 25 years—the maximum punishment for second-degree murder—and equal to the sentence which would have been imposed for a first-degree murder conviction, stating: "Mr. Pickton's conduct was murderous and repeatedly so. I cannot know the details but I know this: What happened to them was senseless and despicable."


Victims

On December 9, 2007, Pickton was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women: * Count One: Serena Abotsway, 29, reported missing on August 22, 2001 * Count Two: Mona Lee Wilson, 26, reported missing on November 30, 2001 * Count Six: Andrea Joesbury, 22, reported missing June 8, 2001 * Count Seven: Brenda Ann Wolfe, 32, reported missing on April 25, 2000 * Count Eleven: Georgina Faith Papin, 34, reported missing in March 2001 * Count Sixteen: Marnie Lee Anne Frey, 24, reported missing on December 29, 1997 Pickton also stood accused of
first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
in the deaths of 21 other women. These charges were stayed on August 4, 2010: * Count Three: Jacquelene Michelle McDonell, 22, reported missing on January 16, 1999 * Count Four: Dianne Rosemary Rock, 34, reported missing on December 13, 2001 * Count Five: Heather Kathleen Bottomley, 27, reported missing on April 17, 2001 * Count Eight: Jennifer Lynn Furminger, 28, reported missing on December 27, 1999 * Count Nine: Helen Mae Hallmark, 20, reported missing on June 15, 1997 * Count Ten: Patricia Rose Johnson, 25, reported missing on January 2, 2001 * Count Twelve: Heather Gabrielle Chinnock, 30, last seen in April 2001 * Count Thirteen: Tanya Holyk, 23, reported missing on November 3, 1996 * Count Fourteen: Sherry Leigh Irving, 24, reported missing on February 22, 1997 * Count Fifteen: Inga Monique Hall, 46, last seen in February 1998 * Count Seventeen: Tiffany Louise Drew, 27, reported missing on December 31, 1999 * Count Eighteen: Sarah Jean de Vries, 29, last seen in April 1998 * Count Nineteen: Cynthia "Cindy" Feliks, 43, last seen in December 1997 * Count Twenty: Angela Rebecca Jardine, 27, reported missing on November 20, 1998 * Count Twenty-One: Diana Melnick, 23, last seen in December 1995 * Count Twenty-Two: Mission
Jane Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...
, discovered on February 25, 1995 * Count Twenty-Three: Debra Lynne Jones, 42, last seen in December 2000 * Count Twenty-Four: Wendy Crawford, 43, last seen in December 1999 * Count Twenty-Five: Kerry Lynn Koski, 38, reported missing on January 7, 1998 * Count Twenty-Six: Andrea Fay Borhaven, 25, last seen in March 1997 * Count Twenty-Seven: Cara Louise Ellis, 25, reported missing on January 21, 1997 Pickton was implicated in the deaths of but not charged with the murders of four women: * Mary Ann Clark, 25, disappeared in August 1991. *Stephanie Lane 20, disappeared January 1997; her partial remains were found but misplaced 2003 to 2010 * Dawn Teresa Crey, 42, last seen in December 2000 * Yvonne Marie Boen, 33, reported missing on March 16, 2001 After Pickton was arrested, witness Lynn Ellingsen came forward to authorities claiming to have seen Pickton skinning a woman hanging from a meat hook years earlier and claimed she had not told anyone about it out of fear of losing her life.King, Gary. (2009). ''Butcher''. New York: Kensington Publishing. However, Ellingsen admitted she had blackmailed Pickton about the incident on more than one occasion. The victims' children filed a civil lawsuit in May 2013 against the Vancouver Police Department, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Crown for failing to protect the victims. They reached a settlement in March 2014, and each child was compensated C$50,000 (), without admission of liability.


British Columbia Court of Appeal


Crown appeal

On January 7, 2008, the Attorney General filed an appeal in the
British Columbia Court of Appeal The British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) is the highest appellate court in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1910 following the 1907 Court of Appeal Act. Jurisdiction The ...
, against Pickton's acquittals on the first-degree murder charges. The grounds of appeal related to a number of evidentiary rulings made by the trial judge, certain aspects of the trial judge's
jury instructions Jury instructions, also known as charges or directions, are a set of legal guidelines given by a judge to a jury in a court of law. They are an important procedural step in a trial by jury, and as such are a cornerstone of criminal process in many ...
, and the ruling to sever the six charges Pickton was tried on from the remaining twenty. Although Pickton had been acquitted on the first-degree murder charges, he was convicted of second-degree murder and received the same sentence as he would have on first-degree murder convictions. The relatives of the victims expressed concern that the convictions would be jeopardized if the Crown argued that the trial judge had made errors. Opposition critic
Leonard Krog Leonard Eugene Krog is a Canadian politician and lawyer in British Columbia, who currently serves as mayor of Nanaimo. He previously served in the provincial legislature on two occasions as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party ...
criticized the Attorney-General for not having briefed the victims' families in advance. Wally Oppal apologized to the victims' families for not informing them of the appeal before it was announced to the general public. Oppal also said that the appeal was filed largely for "strategic" reasons, in anticipation of an appeal by the defence. Under the applicable rules of court, the time period for the Crown to appeal expired thirty days after December 9, when the verdicts were rendered, while the time period for the defence to appeal expired thirty days after December 11, when Pickton was sentenced.


Defence appeal

On January 9, 2008, lawyers for Pickton filed a notice of appeal in the
British Columbia Court of Appeal The British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) is the highest appellate court in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1910 following the 1907 Court of Appeal Act. Jurisdiction The ...
, seeking a new trial on six counts of second-degree murder. The notice of appeal enumerated various areas in which the defence alleged that the trial judge erred: the main charge to the jury, the response to the jurors' questions, amending the jury charge, similar fact evidence, and Pickton's statements to the police.


Decisions

The British Columbia Court of Appeal issued its decisions on June 25, 2009, including some banned from publication. It dismissed the defence appeal by a 2:1 majority. Due to a dissent on a point of law, Pickton was entitled to appeal to the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
, without first seeking leave to appeal. His notice of appeal was filed in the Supreme Court of Canada on August 24, 2009. The Court of Appeal allowed the Crown appeal, finding that the trial judge erred in excluding some evidence and in severing six counts from the rest. The order resulting from this severance was stayed, so that the conviction on the six counts of second degree murder was not set aside.


Supreme Court appeal

On June 26, 2009, Pickton's lawyers confirmed that they would exercise his right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was based on the dissent in the British Columbia Court of Appeal. While Pickton had an automatic right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada based on the legal issues on which Justice Donald had dissented, Pickton's lawyers applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal on other issues as well. On November 26, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada granted this application for leave to appeal. The effect of this was to broaden the scope of Pickton's appeal, allowing him to raise arguments that had been rejected unanimously in the British Columbia Court of Appeal. On July 30, 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision dismissing Pickton's appeal and affirming his convictions. The argument that Pickton should be granted a new trial was unanimously rejected by the Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada. Although unanimous in its result, the Supreme Court split six to three in its legal analysis of the case. The issue was whether the trial judge made a legal error in his instructions to the jury, and in particular in his "re-instruction" responding to the jury's question about Pickton's liability if he was not the only person involved. Writing for the majority, Madam Justice Charron found that "the trial judge's response to the question posed by the jury did not adversely impact on the fairness of the trial". She further found that the trial judge's overall instructions with respect to other suspects "compendiously captured the alternative routes to liability that were realistically in issue in this trial. The jury was also correctly instructed that it could convict Mr. Pickton if the Crown proved this level of participation coupled with the requisite intent."''R. v. Pickton''
, 2010 SCC 32
Justice Louis LeBel, writing for the minority, found that the jury was not properly informed "of the legal principles which would have allowed them as triers of fact to consider evidence of Mr. Pickton's aid and encouragement to an unknown shooter, as an alternative means of imposing liability for the murders".


Judicial aftermath


Discontinuance of prosecution

British Columbia Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie announced that prosecution of the 20 other murder charges would likely be discontinued: "In reaching this position, the branch has taken into account the fact that any additional convictions could not result in any increase to the sentence that Mr. Pickton has already received." Families of the victims had varied reactions to this announcement. Some were disappointed that Pickton would never be convicted of the twenty other murders, while others were relieved that the gruesome details of the murders would not be aired in court.


Management review of investigation

In 2010, the
Vancouver Police Department The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) () is the police force in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the provinc ...
issued a statement that an "exhaustive management review of the Missing Women Investigation" had been conducted, and the Vancouver Police Department would make the Review available to the public once the criminal matters are concluded and the publication bans are removed. In addition, the Vancouver Police Department disclosed that for several years it has "communicated privately to the Provincial Government that it believed a Public Inquiry would be necessary for an impartial examination of why it took so long for Robert Pickton to be arrested". In August 2010, the publication ban imposed during Pickton's trial in 2006 was lifted. The journalist Jerry Langton wrote: "The now-public details of the investigation and trial appalled many. The unwillingness of the police to pursue Pickton, despite overwhelming evidence, smacked hard of racism, sexism, and bias against drug addicts and sex workers. Many felt that the police treated crimes against aboriginals, drug addicts, sex workers and, in particular women, as less important than they should have". The Pickton case seriously damaged the image of the police forces of the Lower Mainland.


Apology by police department

At a press conference, Deputy Chief Constable Doug LePard of the Vancouver Police Department apologized to the victims' families: "I wish from the bottom of my heart that we would have caught him sooner. I wish that, the several agencies involved, that we could have done better in so many ways. I wish that all the mistakes that were made, we could undo. And I wish that more lives would have been saved. So on my behalf and behalf of the Vancouver Police Department and all the men and women that worked on this investigation, I would say to the families how sorry we all are for your losses and because we did not catch this monster sooner."


Inquiry

After Pickton lost his final appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada, the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry chaired by Wally Oppal was called to examine the role of the Vancouver police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the disappearances and murders of women in the Downtown Eastside. Families of the missing and murdered women have been calling for public hearings since before Pickton was arrested and eventually convicted of six murders. The commission's final report submission to the Attorney General was dated November 19, 2012, and was released to the public on December 17. During the inquiry, lawyers for some of the victims' families sought to have an unpublished 289-page manuscript authored by former police investigator Lorimer Shenher entered as evidence and made entirely public. Several passages were read into the inquiry's record but Commissioner Oppal declined to publicize the entire manuscript. As an extension of The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was formed by the Government of Canada in September 2016.


Transfer to penitentiary

During a court hearing on August 4, 2010, Judge Williams stated that Pickton should be committed to a federal penitentiary; up to that point he had been held at a provincial pretrial institution. In June 2018, he was transferred from
Kent Institution Kent Institution () is a Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) facility located in Agassiz, British Columbia. Opened in 1979, Kent is the only maximum security federal penitentiary in the CSC's Pacific region, which includes the province of British ...
in British Columbia to Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec.


Parole eligibility

In February 2024, Pickton became eligible to apply for
day parole Day parole is a form of release under Canadian law that permits prisoner participation in public activities during the day, and requires they return to their prison or halfway house nightly. The Parole Board of Canada may waive this requirement, or ...
. No
Parole Board of Canada The Parole Board of Canada (PBC; ; formerly known as the National Parole Board) is the Canadian government agency that is responsible for reviewing and issuing parole and criminal pardons in Canada. It operates under the auspices of Public Sa ...
hearing was scheduled.


Death

On May 19, 2024, Pickton was attacked by another prisoner at the Port-Cartier Institution in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
. The prisoner, Martin Charest, described as having a history of assaulting other prisoners, "speared" Pickton in the head with a "broken broom-like handle". Pickton was airlifted to a hospital and put on life support. He died at a hospital in
Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
from complications of the attack on May 31.


Media and merchandise

A major plotline in the Canadian crime drama '' Da Vinci's Inquest'' deals with a spate of missing women thought to be victims of a prolific serial killer hunting in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Pickton is not directly referred to by name, but starting in the show's fifth season characters and advertisements made reference to "the pig farm" in relation to the case. In August 2006, Thomas Loudamy, a 27-year-old
Fremont, California Fremont () is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San F ...
, resident, claimed that he had received three letters from Pickton in response to letters Loudamy sent under an assumed identity. Loudamy, an aspiring journalist, claimed that his motivation in releasing the letters was to help the public gain insights into Pickton. '' Killer Pickton'' is a 2005 American horror film loosely based on Pickton's killings. In 2015, a film with the working title of ''Full Flood'' began production in Vancouver by CBC-TV. Based on Stevie Cameron's book ''On The Farm,'' it was to use the life experiences of Pickton's victims for a fictional story about women in the Downtown Eastside who became victims of a serial killer. Pickton was portrayed by Ben Cotton in the film. In 2016, the film was released under the title '' Unclaimed'', and also as ''On the Farm'' in certain markets. In 2009, the ''Criminal Minds'' season 4 two-part finale, "To Hell ... And Back", based the storyline on Pickton's case. Though names and locations were changed (Pickton's character was named Mason Turner, and acts take place in Ontario instead of British Columbia), many key details were used, including two brothers living on a run-down family pig farm who would abduct sex workers and homeless women and bringing them back to the farm before feeding the remains to the pigs. In 2011, Vancouver artist Pamela Masik planned to mount an art exhibition, ''The Forgotten'', featuring portraits of some of Pickton's victims, at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
's Museum of Anthropology, which declined to host it after some controversy. The incident was profiled by Damon Vignale in the 2013 documentary film '' The Exhibition''.Julianna Cummins
"The Exhibition wins CSA's 2015 Diversity Award"
. '' Playback'', February 2, 2015.
In 2011, a documentary was released, titled ''The Pig Farm'', which outlined the flawed investigative work by the
RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
and the Vancouver Police Service. Details emerged about the impossibly long list of suspects, departmental in-fighting and lack of resources. In 2016, a purported autobiography, ''Pickton: In his Own Words'', was released. Its publication and marketing initiated controversy, critical petitions, and government action to stop him from profiting from the work. ''Pig Killer'', a biopic written and directed by Chad Ferrin, starring Jake Busey as Pickton, was released in select theatres on November 17, 2023. In 2024, the comedy troupe Danger Cats was selling T-shirts online with a caricature of Pickton headlined with "Pickton Farms". Under the caricature was the
tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...
"Over 50 flavors of hookery smoked bacon". The shirt caused controversy. The British Columbia premier David Eby expressed his outrage: "All I can say is how deeply disappointed I am by the idea that the lives of vulnerable women could be trivialized like this." Upcoming shows of Danger Cats were cancelled and the shirt was removed from their online store.


See also

* Gilbert Paul Jordan *
List of serial killers by country This is a list of notable serial killers, by the country where most of the killings occurred. Convicted serial killers by country Afghanistan * Abul Djabar: killed 65 men and boys by strangling them with turbans while raping them; suspected o ...
*
List of serial killers by number of victims A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, in two or more separate events over a period of time, for primarily psychological reasons.''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying'' entry o"Serial Killers" (2003) by Sa ...


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


Women Commission of Inquiry ("Oppal") Report
(November 19, 2012) * ''R. v. Pickton'', (July 30, 2010)

(June 25, 2009) (defence appeal)

(June 25, 2009) (Crown appeal)

(December 13, 2007) (ruling re: re-instructing the jury)

(January 16, 2007) (ruling re: media application to access and publish exhibits #1)

(Court Services, Ministry of Attorney General)
Covering The Trial: Former Sex Trade Workers Work As Citizen Correspondents For Orato

Backgrounder
* TruTV article o

*
BBC Article on Pickton
(2007-01-21) *

June 4–6, 2007

(downloadable PDF book written by sex workers)

obtained by ''
The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...
''
Interviews and oral histories with victims' families and community workers
part of research stored at Simon Fraser University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickton, Robert 1949 births 1980s murders in Canada 1990s murders in Canada 2000s murders in Canada 2024 deaths 20th-century Canadian criminals 20th-century Canadian farmers 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Canadian people convicted of murder Canadian people of English descent Canadian people who died in prison custody Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Canadian serial killers Crimes against sex workers Criminals from British Columbia Downtown Eastside Farmers from British Columbia Murdered Canadian criminals People convicted of murder by Canada People from Port Coquitlam Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Canada Prisoners who died in Canadian detention Publication bans in Canadian case law Serial killers murdered in prison custody Violence against Indigenous women in Canada Violence against women in Canada People murdered in Quebec 2024 murders in Canada