SERIAL KILLER ROBERT PICKTON

1. SERIAL KILLERROBERT PICKTON By: Susan Ketis & Teresa Mifsud

2. INTRODUCTION • Robert Pickton is Canada’s worst serial killer and thus we had an interest in this case over others. • Serial killer is a term describing a type of killer who kills a number of people over a long period of time. They are generally male and motivated by a variety of psychological urges, primarily power ("Serial Killer Law and Legal Definition”). This case can be seen to be significant to the study of law due to the fact that it is important to analyse theories about criminal conduct as well as the nature of criminal behavior. Understanding concepts of justice will help in identifying and stopping such criminal acts as Robert Pickton participated in.

3. Background of the Defendant and Respondent • Appellant: Robert William Pickton Indictment:Charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder. His targeted victims were women, specifically prostitutes. • Respondent: Her Majesty The Queen

4. Background of Crime Committed • Became a person of interest to the police in early 2001 when a task force began collecting the DNA of women missing from the downtown eastside of Vancouver.  • All the missing women were drug‑dependent sex‑trade workers who had frequently worked in that area. • Mr. Pickton operated a pig butchering business adjacent to his residence on his family’s property in Port Coquitlam, east of Vancouver.  • The investigation concluded in the discovery of the dismembered remains of many of the women on Mr. Pickton’s property, some in buckets in a freezer in his workshop, some in garbage pails in the piggery near the slaughterhouse, others elsewhere on the property • Charged with several counts of first degree murder after the police found the dismembered remains of the victims on his property. Originally charged with 27 counts of first degree murder but one of 20 were omitted because of evidence not properly being linked to it. Furthermore, Justice Williams severed the charges in a way as to split them into one group of six counts and another group of twenty counts. The trial proceeded on the group of six counts. The remaining 20 counts could have been heard in a separate trial but together the trial would have exceeded a period of time of over two years.

5. Prosecution Argument •  Throughout the trial, the Crown persistently argued that Mr. Pickton was the “sole perpetrator” of the murders and denied the involvement of any other persons.

6. Facts - Prosecution Evidence • Evidence established that Pickton used the services provided by sex trade workers; he lured the women away from their usual working areas to his farm by offering additional money, drugs, or both. Pickton told Andrew Bellwood that he lured sex trade workers to his home, had sex with them, restrained them with handcuffs, strangled them with a piece of wire, butchered them in his slaughterhouse and disposed of their remains, including at a rendering plant.  • Apart from regular work, Pickton was a butcher. He had the tools of the trade and slaughtered pigs in his slaughterhouse on the farm. Furthermore, the state of the remains of three of the victims showed unmistakable signs of having been butchered in a manner similar to the way Pickton butchered large pigs.

7. Facts - Prosecution EvidenceContinued • An eyewitness, Lynn Ellingsen, testified she accompanied Pickton to the downtown eastside of Vancouver one evening where he engaged a sex trade worker and brought her back to the farm. Later that evening, Ellingsen saw Pickton disemboweling the woman in his slaughterhouse, she identified this woman as the victim in Count 5. • In his formal statement to the police, Pickton admitted to being the one responsible for the deaths of missing women, but said that others were involved too. However, to an undercover officer posing as his cellmate, Pickton admitted to being a serial killer who had killed forty-nine women and planned to kill one more to make an “even fifty.”  He told the officer that he disposed of his victims’ remains at a rendering plant.  He admitted getting caught because he had become “sloppy towards the end.”  The victims whose heads, hands and feet were recovered from his outbuildings were the last three victims in time. He also never mentioned others being apart of his scheme.

8. Strength of Prosecution Evidence • The strength of the evidence lies in the fact that the Crown could provide two statements given to the police; this posed as sufficient evidence. In neither claim was the referral to more than one perpetrator therefore making Pickton appear as if he was the only person committing the murders. Furthermore although to the police in his formal statement he proclaimed there were others involved, to the under cover cop he did not mention the involvement of any other parties but himself, making the prosecutors evidence reliable and convincing. Overall, the prosecution argument is strong and arises a compelling debate.

9. Defence Presented • The defence argued that the Crown had failed to prove that the accused was the sole perpetrator, suggesting the potential involvement of others to the exclusion of the accused.

10. Facts- Defence Evidence • The Defence responded to the Crown’s case by attempting to show that Pickton’s farm was a bee-hive of activity, that other people, unknown and known used Pickton’s place to kill the women without Pickton being criminally involved.  • They argued that Pickton’s statements to the police did not amount to reliable admissions that he killed anyone. Rather, Pickton scored low on verbal intelligence tests and the Defence used this information in an attempt to show his unsophisticated efforts to impress his cell mate.

11. Facts- Defense Evidence Continued • The Defence argued that Ellingsen and Bellwood, who provided statements to the police, were chronic drug users, entrenched in a criminal life style, and that their testimony was implausible, unreliable, and unconfirmed by the rest of the evidence. The Defence contended that the forensic evidence did not support the Crown’s theory. Strength of Defence Evidence Although the prosecuting evidence seemed very strong, in the defenses view, this could be otherwise interpreted when it became known that Ellingsen and Bellwood could have rendered false accusations due to their chronic drug abuse and criminal life styles. This also makes the defense argument strong because it overrides the prosecuting argument detailing that the witnesses claims are unreliable. However, the argument that Pickton reflected unsophisticated behavior in his efforts to impress his cell mate is in our opinion not as strong an argument because having scored low on verbal intelligence tests has little to do with trying to impress a cell mate with his confession.

12. Physical Evidence Summary • A firearm found in the laundry room of Mr. Pickton’s trailer. • Various restraint devices, were found in his bedroom and in a duffle bag in the loft area of his workshop. • Personal belongings and trace DNA of four of the six victims were found throughout Pickton’s trailer. Together with the recovered bodily remains, all this evidence was located within a 70 metre radius of his trailer. • Recovered from the headboard of Pickton’s bed was a knotted length of insulated electrical wire.

13. Jury Decision and Sentence • The jury returned a verdict that Pickton is not guilty on 6 counts of first-degree murder, but is guilty on 6 counts of second-degree murder • A second-degree murder convictions punishment consists of a life sentence with no possibility of parole for a period between 10 to 25 years. • Judge Justice James Williams sentenced Pickton to life with no possibility of parole which is the maximum punishment for second-degree murder (25 years). This is also equal punishment to the sentence which would have been imposed for a first-degree murder conviction. • In passing the sentence, Justice Williams said "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."

14. THEORY • Contemporary Theory: Rational Choice and Deterrence Theories: This theory suggests that people who are likely to commit a crime value the excitement and thrill of breaking the law. This can be argued with the conversation between him and his “cell mate” in which he repeatedly stated he wanted one more kill to make it the big 50. • Socialization Theory: This theory suggests that the key influences leading to criminal behavior are found in ones upbringing. Due to the fact that Pickton chose victims that were only female and also prostitutes, he may have had a hatred for them because of the way he was brought up to believe their motives were wrong or he may have had an encounter with a woman in his life that lead him to his choice of killings. • Biological Trait Theory: This argues that certain human traits such as intelligence may predispose certain individuals to engage in criminal activity. Robert Pickton scored low on his verbal intelligence test thus it can be further investigated and argued that something to do with his mind triggers his criminal activity.

15. Works Cited “Contemporary Theories of Criminal Deviance.” Canadian and International Law . Aukland: Janice Schoening, 2004. 268-269. Print. “Robert William Pickton.” Judgments of the Supreme Court Of Canada. Lexum, 30 July 2010. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. <http://scc.lexum.org/‌en/‌2010/‌2010scc32/‌2010scc32.html>. “Robert William Pickton.” Serial Killers. WhiteBark Innovations, 2008. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. <http://www.serialkillers.ca/‌robert-william-pickton/>. “Serial Killer Law and Legal Definition.” USlegal Definitions. N.p., 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2011. <http://definitions.uslegal.com/‌s/‌serial-killer/>.