Retired Vancouver Judge Wallace Craig calls for inquiry into Pickton murders

Georgia Straight
Publish Date: February 27, 2008

The Georgia Straight asked retired B.C. judge Wallace G. Craig to offer his thoughts on the news that convicted serial killer Robert Pickton may not face a second trial, for which he faces 20 counts of first-degree murder. This is what Craig submitted.

ROBERT PICKTON will haunt us forever: the ultimate spectre of a serial killer.

On December 9, 2007, a befuddled jury found Pickton guilty of second degree murder in the serial killing of six street prostitutes. The judge imposed a mandatory concurrent life sentence for each murder.

A humanoid being beyond the reach of criminal justice, Pickton cannot atone for his maniacal violence to these young women of Skid Road and for remainder of his life will be jailed in virtual isolation.

Devoid of common sense, Pickton has appealed his convictions. As expected the Crown has cross-appealed, all the while holding open the prospect of proceeding with the remaining 20 first-degree murder charges.

However on February 26 Attorney General Wallace Oppal revealed that the remaining 20 charges will not be taken to trial if Pickton’s appeal is dismissed. Oppal said his decision is in the public interest because no further sentence can be achieved by virtue of further convictions…“Life means life. It means natural life and he can’t get any further sentence.” Oppal also stated “We can’t put a price on justice …we’re not going to say to the victims that the costs are so prohibitive that we’re not going to prosecute.”

Needless to say there was mixed response from the families of the 20 young women and a predictable response from the NDP justice critic Mike Farnsworth who called the decision “shocking and insensitive”.

It seems to me that Oppal made a correct decision based on an odd mixture of pragmatism, principle and what he left unsaid. He seems to realize how plain insensitive and cruel it would be to force another jury of twelve ordinary citizens through the horror of Pickton’s barbarism.

I wonder if Oppal now thinks it was a tactical error to go to trial on only 6 charges all the while leaving the impression that the remaining 20 would somehow remain relevant and bullet-proof against a challenge of double jeopardy.

Looking back on the trial it seems that it went of the rails when the jury was permitted to choose between first- and second-degree murder.

A serial killer seeks his victims one by one, sequentially and, unless clearly insane, is engaged in the most evil of planned, sadistic and deliberate first-degree murder. The jury was flat-out wrong in judging these serial murders to have been second-degree and should never have been given that opportunity. The jury should have been told that when each murder is serially entwined it gives rise to only one conclusion, by rational inference and common sense, that it is plain and simple first-degree murder.

Rather than calling for a trial of the remaining 20 counts of first-degree murder the public should be demanding a formal inquiry into why Pickton was able to so brazenly carry out his serial killing. What did successive mayors and council members of Vancouver and chiefs of police know and do about the missing women of Skid Road, mainly aboriginal girls? And did the RCMP know of the spreading word of strange partying and goings-on at the Pickton pig farm? Let us hear under oath why this malevolent vortex of our anarchic Skid Road was allowed to swallow up the most defenceless of women. It verges on malfeasance, and that alone cries out for a formal inquiry.

Mr. Oppal, the least you can do for the missing women of Skid Road is to appoint an inquiry commissioner. Now!

Wallace Craig – wallace-gilby-craig@shaw.ca – www.realjustice.ca

Craig was born and raised in Vancouver and presided over a criminal court in the Downtown Eastside for 26 years. In 2003, he had a book published called Short Pants to Striped Trousers, The life and times of a Judge in Skid Road Vancouver.

In December 2007, Straight.com reported that the office of the police complaint commissioner is considering ordering an investigation into the Vancouver police department's handling of the cases of the missing women from the Downtown Eastside.

Source URL: http://www.straight.com/article-133836/retired-vancouver-judge-wallace-craig-calls-for-inquiry-into-pickton-murders

B.C. attorney general says there would be no purpose to another lengthy proceeding

Pickton unlikely to face trial in 20 more cases

Feb 27, 2008 04:30 AM
Petti Fong Western Canada Bureau Chief
The Toronto Star

Vancouver–Families of some of serial killer Robert Pickton's alleged victims learned yesterday that the Crown is not going to proceed with a trial on the other 20 counts of first-degree murder.
"I had a feeling that this was going to happen," said Marilyn Kraft, stepmother of Cindy Feliks, one of the 20 victims whose cases have not been heard. "My feeling was that the government was going to say there was no need for a second trial and that's the excuse they will use."

B.C.'s Attorney General Wally Oppal said yesterday if the appeals fail and Pickton's conviction on six counts of second-degree murder is allowed to stand, it would serve no purpose in holding another lengthy criminal trial "given the fact that no further punishment, no further sentence can be achieved by virtue of further convictions. He is now receiving the maximum."

The pig farmer from Port Coquitlam, B.C., was initially charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder after police arrested him in 2002. For years, women who lived and worked in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside went missing and the remains of some of those women have been found on a pig farm where Pickton lived and worked.

During Pickton's preliminary hearing, a judge divided the charges and proceeded with six of the counts, with the 20 other charges to be heard at a later date.

Pickton, 58, was convicted in December on six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, Mona Wilson and Brenda Wolfe.

He was sentenced to serve a minimum of 25 years in jail before being eligible for parole.

A month later, the Crown filed an appeal on the basis that Pickton should have been convicted for first-degree murder and because prosecutors want all 26 charges to be heard at the same time.

Pickton's defence team has also filed an appeal arguing the judge made numerous errors, including in his instructions to the jury.

"This has been going on for years and years," said Kraft. "But no matter how you think of it, my daughter still hasn't had justice and never will."

In Guelph, Jean Little, aunt of Sarah de Vries, another of Pickton's alleged victims, said she believes the decision not to proceed was the right one.

"He's off the street. He can't hurt anyone else," said Little in a telephone interview. "They could spend more money, but that money could be spent elsewhere."

Lilliane Beaudoin, sister of Dianne Rock, one of the 20 victims in question, found it heartbreaking that the trial would likely not proceed.

The criminal trial and the investigation before the charges were some of the lengthiest in Canadian history with costs estimated at more than $70 million.

"Injustice has been done against my family and the family of the other women," Beaudoin said by telephone from Welland, Ont.

© Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2008

Svekla’s sister speaks

Testifies her accused brother told her: ‘I did a really bad thing’

By TONY BLAIS, COURT BUREAU

February 26, 2008

A body in a hockey bag, a second body found in a field, arms scratched "like (it had been) one hell of a mean cat," and a crying confession that "I did a really bad thing."

Those were among the things heard yesterday during the riveting testimony of accused prostitute killer Thomas Svekla's sister at her brother's double-murder trial.

Donna Parkinson told court she didn't believe Svekla when he said a hockey bag he had brought from High Level to her Fort Saskatchewan home in May 2006 contained $800 worth of compost worms. So she took a peek.

After feeling what "seemed like an elbow joint," Parkinson pulled her arm back and went to get her husband.

He thought it was just the hockey bag seam, but they couldn't check further because Svekla had come over.

That night she told her husband her brother's story didn't make sense and said: "you know what - we're going in."

They then realized the "really hard" thing wrapped in an air mattress they were feeling was a body and called 911.

Court has heard the wrapped and wire-bound body found inside the hockey bag was that of Theresa Innes, 36, whom police allege Svekla killed earlier in High Level.

Parkinson then testified about a June 10, 2004, conversation she had with Svekla when he told her he had stumbled across the mutilated, naked body of a girl in a field while smoking crack with another girl earlier that day.

She said he appeared calm, but said he was scared and didn't know what to do, and she told him to call police.

Then Parkinson told court about a second conversation she had with her brother a week before that when he came over "very upset" and began crying, but said he couldn't say why because she was "going to hate him."

She testified he started talking about getting rid of a car and said, "I did a really bad thing."

Parkinson said Svekla was "totally distraught" and falling down and crying, however she also noted he was wearing pristine clothing despite having been partying all night.

She also said both of her brother's arms were badly scratched and the marks looked quite fresh.

"To me, it looked like one hell of a mean cat. It wasn't just one, it was many. His arms were scratched to hell."

The body in the field was identified by police as Rachel Quinney, 19, who, like Innes, was a sex-trade worker.

Earlier yesterday, city prostitute Shannon Millward, 26, testified of finding Quinney's "cut up" body while smoking crack cocaine with Svekla east of the city in 2004.

Millward described the body as "pretty bad" and said it was puffy and the genitals had been cut out. She also said she wanted to call police right away, but Svekla didn't.

"Tom was kind of worried they would think he had done it," she said, describing him as "distraught and panicky."

Svekla, 39, is facing two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of interfering with human remains.

The former mechanic is the first person to be charged by Project KARE, an RCMP-led task force investigating the deaths and disappearances of people who lead high-risk lifestyles, including more than a dozen local prostitutes. He is also a suspect in six other killings and two disappearances.

Last week, the trial heard Svekla was spotted by a friend "carrying a black duffel bag out of the bushes" and trying to stuff it into the trunk of a car before driving off and yelling back: "I didn't kill the girl. I didn't kill the girl."

The trial resumes today.

EDMONTON SUN

Second Pickton trial depends on appeal outcome, families told

Lori Culbert

Canwest News Service

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

VANCOUVER - Some relatives of 20 women Robert (Willie) Pickton has been accused of killing say they have been told by the B.C. government that the serial killer's next trial may not go ahead.

Lori-Ann Ellis, sister-in-law of Cara Ellis, said members of her family were told Tuesday that the fate of Pickton's second trial hinges on the outcome of his appeal of his first trial.

"If Pickton wins his appeal, then they'll go ahead with one big trial and the 26 charges. If he doesn't win his appeal, then it's all over. There won't be a second trial," said Ellis.

Pickton was convicted in December of the second-degree murder of six women who disappeared from the Downtown Eastside.

He is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. Pickton has appealed and asked for a new trial.

In total, he faces 26 murder charges but the indictment was split into six counts and 20 counts to make the trials more manageable.

The families of three other missing women also contacted the Vancouver Sun to say the government indicated Pickton's second trial may not proceed.

Ellis, whose sister-in-law is among the 20 women Pickton has not yet been tried for killing, said her family is frustrated and wants Cara's day in court.

The victim's mother, Judy Trimble, was in tears.

"Judy sat and cried like a baby last night. I guess she wanted to hear 12 people say he's guilty," Ellis said in a phone interview from her Calgary home.

NDP MLA Mike Farnworth, the opposition's critic for public safety, said the Liberals should commit to holding the second trial.

"It is shocking that this arrogant and insensitive government is informing family members that there may be no trial for the murder of their loved ones," Farnworth said in a statement. "The families have made it clear they want to see justice done. They've suffered enough already."

Vancouver Sun
lculbertpng.canwest.com

© Canwest News Service 2008

2nd Pickton trial may not go ahead, families told

The second murder trial for convicted killer Robert William Pickton may not happen, the families of two victims have been told.

The families told CBC News on Monday that they were called by the B.C. prosecutor and told the trial may not go ahead. One of the family members said they were told not to make the information public.

Stan Lowe, a spokesman for the Crown's office, confirmed that the families had been called, but would not say why. "We're currently in the process of contacting family members to provide them with an update on this prosecution. Now, we consider communications with family members to be private," he said.

Pickton, a Port Coquitlam pig farmer, was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths 26 women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Pickton stood trial in connection with the slaying of six of the 26 women and was convicted in January of second-degree murder on all six counts after an 11-month trial.

He was scheduled to be tried on the 20 remaining counts at a later date.

The families said Monday that they were told that the second trial would be cancelled if appeals launched against Pickton's conviction do not succeed.

In the first trial, Pickton was sentenced to life in prison with 25 years before he is eligible for parole.

Pickton, 58, was found guilty of killing Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin and Brenda Wolfe.

CBC NEWS
www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/02/25/pickton-trial.html