[Surely *somebody* else remembers this movie]....;]
Posted on 12/09/2007 12:35:59 PM PST by Pyro7480
NEW WESTMINSTER, British Columbia - A pig farmer accused of being Canada's worst serial killer was found guilty Sunday of six counts of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The verdict ended the trial of Robert 'Willie' Pickton on the first six of 26 murder charges in the deaths of women, most of them prostitutes and drug addicts from a seedy Vancouver neighborhood.
Pickton, 58, was tried for the killings of Mona Wilson, Sereena Abotsway, Marnie Frey, Brenda Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury and Georgina Papin. The defense acknowledged that their remains were found on Pickton's farm outside Vancouver, but denied he was responsible for their deaths.
The jury of seven men and five women began its deliberations Friday night. They had the option of finding Pickton guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter or not guilty on any of the six counts.
Pickton listened to the verdict with his head bowed. He will receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison and will not be eligible for parole for at least 10 years. The jury was deliberating Sunday whether to extend that 10-year period.
Two jurors, both women, wiped tears from their eyes while the verdict was read.
Prosecutors have said Pickton will be tried for the 20 other murder charges but no date has been set.
Last week, Judge James Williams reviewed the transcript of a videotape in which Pickton is heard telling an undercover police officer that he had planned to kill one more woman before stopping at 50, taking a break and then killing another 25 women.
"I was going to do one more; make it an even 50," Pickton told the officer, who had been planted in the accused killer's cell and gained his trust.
A day earlier, Papin's three sisters cried and clutched each other's hands in court while the judge reviewed the testimony of witness Lynn Ellingson, who said she walked in on a blood-covered Pickton as Papin's body dangled from a chain in the farm's slaughterhouse.
Prosecution witness Andrew Bellwood had testified that Pickton told him how he strangled his alleged victims and fed their remains to his pigs.
Too macabre!!
An eyewitness walks in on the man and finds him covered with blood and a woman's body hanging from a chain, and all they can manage to find in their hearts to convict him of is second degree murder?
Somebody needs a serious attitude adjustment . . . besides the perp.
In GA he would ride the needle for the FIRST murder, and they'd dig him up and kill him again for the other 49.
[Surely *somebody* else remembers this movie]....;]
He planned it. He murdered six (possibly 26).
How in the world could the jury see this as Second Degree?
Picture blocked.
Even without the picture, I’m going to guess ‘Motel Hell’...
He hunted down his victims, but then he killed them accidentally.
And it only took 6 years to convict him
I don’t think they are crying in sympathy with the killer.
I bet they're feeling bad and sorry for themselves because they convicted him.
If you're going to be on a jury, you have to be steely-eyed when you bring back your verdict. There is no other way.
(I've been in the business for 25 years, on both sides of the bar and behind the jury rail too.)
There are places (probably Canada is one of them) where first degree murder only applies to things such as assasination of a government official, murder of a law officer during the performance of his duties, etc.
Of course, in Canada, all they probably get is the comfy chair.
“What’s wrong with that jury? Fool women crying — I swear women ought not to be allowed to serve on a murder jury.”
Well, actually they should not even be allowed to vote.
Emotion has no place in the decisions of justice or politics.
Reason based on logic, not how you FEEL about something.
And now the democRATS want a potentially hormonal women in charge of the most powerful armed force on the planet?
Flame away......, but you know I’m right...
Why?
Emotion clouds judgment and should play no part in rendering a verdict. The judge instructs every jury that emotions, passions and feelings must be set aside.
I tried cases for 20 years before a lawyer was fool enough to put me on a jury. I knew in an intellectual way of course that you can't "feel" your way to a verdict, but until you sit in that jury room and go through the process you don't understand just how dangerous and corrosive emotions are in the jury room.
We spent a couple of hours with flow charts and lists before we got everybody calmed down.
(I asked the lawyer afterwards why in the world he kept me on, and he said there were other folks on the panel that he needed to strike worse than he needed to strike me. Little did he know -- I was one of the reasons he lost his case, proving once again that voir dire is witchdoctory and you never know how it will turn out.)
With these facts, that's a compromise verdict if ever there was one.
Was there an insanity plea? What was the defense that made a second-degree verdict realistic? "I didn't do it" isn't a mitigating factor.
"Well, actually they should not even be allowed to vote."
Isn't he up in the 50+ range?
A takeoff of real life Sweeney Todd with some variations. But “2nd degree” murder instead of “1st”. “Life without parole” instead of “death sentence” sounds light sentencing.
50 women went missing during this time.
He has been found guilty of 6, with charges for another 20 coming.
I guess they couldn’t find DNA evidence to charge him on the rest.
He very well could be. I was basing my 26 number off of the article that said he was awaiting trial for 20 more cases.
I defer to your assessment because I have not been following this.
This Pickton is far from the only serial killer in recent years who found easy pickings and easy going among the hookers and runaways in downtown Vancouver...
What is about law enforcement there?
Hang the sumbitch! Yeah... 
Twice!
None of the men had that problem, although there was one that had to be persuaded to think things through.
I'm afraid the weepy women were the ones who demanded a compromise verdict.
You would be perfectly comfortable with me on such a jury.
But in 20 years virtually all the problems I've had with juries have been due to over-emotional women. NEVER men. It might be worth it to get rid of the problem women, even though it would debar you and me from serving.
I hope they didn't inconvenience him too much.
See what AM radio can do to you?
This murderous pig farmer was someone's good son until he listened to "country music".
GPS Coordinates for Pickton’s Pig Farm:
49° 15’ 32.43”N
122° 44’ 30.04”W
At least according to someone who posted on Google Earth. IMO the terrain doesn’t quite match aerial photos of the scene.
“Then WHY the second-degree murder verdict?”
That, I can’t even begin to explain.
>>>Prosecution witness Andrew Bellwood had testified that Pickton told him how he strangled his alleged victims and fed their remains to his pigs.
Did he sell his pigs for slaughter???
My home state doesn't "do" degrees - it's malice murder, felony murder, then voluntary manslaughter, then involuntary manslaughter.
So your guess is as good as mine, probably better.
Otherwise you'd never eat another shrimp or crab.
The difference between first and second degree murder usually comes down to whether or not there was advance planning. Apparently, the jury must have thought that none of these murders was premeditated. I can’t imagine why they thought that.
Your point actually did make me feel better.
But still....
The old common law charge said that malice/premeditation could be formed in an instant.
That's why I think we had a couple of sob sisters on the jury. This boy is lucky he didn't go to trial in Georgia, the jury probably would have sent out a note to the judge asking if they could recommend that he be fed to his own pigs while still alive . . . .
After experiencing jury deliberations from the inside, I was very grateful that I wasn't on a murder jury. Although in this case, given what I've heard, I could have voted for death (assuming it was available) without turning a hair.
Even less likely that any of it wound up in GA.
My daughter sent me a newspaper clipping last fall -- somebody dumped a murder victim in a river in Western Carolina just about the same time her college outdoor group was kayaking and camping and eating the fish and drinking the water (after appropriate treatment with the purification tablets) in the area. They didn't read about it in the papers until after they got back . . . .
It's actually a mixed bag- the Criminal Code is a federal statute but the criminal justice system is administered by the provinces. This can often lead to differences in standards between provinces.
Of course wild variations between the states are S.O.P.
Getting charged with a capital offense in most southern states (outside the major urban areas) is a Bad Idea.
Yeah, it’s a hell of a verdict. Honestly, I thought they would either bring in a verdict of guilty of first degree murder, or innocent. Apparently there was some additional (or changed) instruction to the jury after they had already been deliberating several days, to tell them that they could convict him on the lesser charger if they thought he was involved, but couldn’t be sure that he was the actual killer. I can only assume from that that the jury did not find the crown’s physical evidence and witnesses completely convincing. Basically all they could prove was that the women’s bodies were found on his farm and that some of them were killed there - but they failed to convince the jury that he was the one, or at least the only one, responsible for their deaths. That last minute instruction will probably result in the conviction being appealed, although without it there’s a chance they may have found him innocent (!).
Either the evidence was not as good as it could be, the prosecutor didn’t make convincing arguments, or the defence made really good arguments.
:-P
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