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Supreme Court of Canada Upholds Robert Pickton's Six Murder Convictions, Ending His Bid for a New Trial

The ruling left the B.C. Crown expecting to drop 20 more murder charges. Vancouver police apologized to the families for not catching Pickton sooner.

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Illustration of two robed lawyers walking down a bright marble court hallway lined with benches. Not an actual scene from the case.

Robert Pickton's last chance at a new trial ended in Canada's highest court. On July 30, 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously upheld his six murder convictions.

The court dismissed Pickton's appeal from the 2009 British Columbia Court of Appeal ruling, which it had heard on March 25, 2010. The appeal turned on the trial judge's instructions to the jury on the law of co-principals and aiding and abetting. In December 2007, Pickton had been found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey and Brenda Wolfe, and sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years. Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie said prosecutors would likely not pursue 20 other murder charges, since "any additional convictions could not result in any increase to the sentence." Deputy Chief Constable Doug LePard of the Vancouver police apologized to the families "because we did not catch the monster sooner."

The DNA of 33 women had been found on Pickton's property in Port Coquitlam. He had been charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder; one was dropped for lack of evidence, and six were severed and tried first. The Crown later stayed the remaining 20 charges. B.C. Attorney General Michael de Jong said a decision on whether to hold a public inquiry would be made soon.

A CBC News photo caption named one of the six women as Angela Joesbury, while the CBC's report named her Andrea Joesbury.

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