Canada court rejects serial killer’s appeal

VANCOUVER, B.C. – A court on Thursday rejected the appeal of a farmer convicted of butchering women and feeding them to his pigs in what police say was Canada’s worst serial murder case.

Thursday’s decision also means that Robert Pickton, convicted of six murders, will likely not be tried for another 20 murders with which he is charged. Prosecutors have said that if Pickton’s verdict were not overturned, they would not try the other cases because he is already serving the maximum sentence.

Pickton, 59, is serving life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

The judge in the first trial proceeded with just six of the 26 murder charges because he felt that handling all of them in one trial would be too much of a burden on the jury.

Pickton’s defense lawyers challenged the six murder convictions before the British Columbia Court of Appeal, saying the judge made numerous mistakes in his final charge to the jury.

The appeals court ruled that the trial judge’s charge was adequate and did not compromise Pickton’s right to a fair trial.

The defense could next appeal to Canada’s Supreme Court in Ottawa. Pickton’s lawyer, Patrick McGowan, said he was still consulting with his client and other defense lawyers on whether to appeal to the top court.

Most of the women who Pickton was accused of killing were prostitutes and drug addicts. He was arrested in February 2002 by police investigating the disappearances of sex-trade workers from Vancouver’s seedy Downtown Eastside.