Online petition demands second trial

Online petition demands second trial for Pickton

Lori Culbert
Vancouver Sun

January 2, 2007

VANCOUVER - A new online petition is demanding B.C.'s Crown prosecutors proceed with a second trial against Robert (Willie) Pickton, to determine whether the convicted serial killer murdered another 20 women.

Relatives of some of those 20 women signed the petition, which was posted on Tuesday.

"I feel it's extremely important that they go ahead with the second trial," Lilliane Beaudoin, sister of slain woman Dianne Rock, said from her home in Welland, Ont.

"This is my sister - we need someone to be held accountable."

By its second day, the petition had about 200 signatures.

Pickton, a former farmer from Port Coquitlam, B.C., was charged with killing 26 women who disappeared from Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside.

A Supreme Court judge split his charges into two trials, fearing one mega-trial would be too difficult for a single jury.

Pickton was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after being convicted last month on six counts of second-degree murder at his first trial, which was a long, complicated legal proceeding.

Some pundits and defence lawyers have opined there is likely no need for an expensive second trial, since Pickton has received the heftiest sentence available in Canada.

But advocates for the other 20 women fear authorities may not now go ahead with the next trial.

"My sister needs her time in court," Beaudoin said.

"I have a lot of unanswered questions. This is my one and only means of getting answers."

Pam Eyre, who organized the petition from her Ottawa home, is not connected to anyone missing from Vancouver but attended memorials for women who disappeared from Edmonton when she lived in Alberta.

"These families need to know the public really does care about their family members and they absolutely deserve to see justice done for their loved ones," Eyre said.

Prosecutor Geoff Gaul, who speaks for the Crown in B.C., said no decision has been made about the second trial, but it would be based on available evidence and public interest.

Potential dates for the second trial are to be discussed in B.C. Supreme Court Jan. 24.

The petition is addressed to B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal, whose office deferred all comments to Crown prosecutors.

Pickton has pleaded not guilty to killing 26 women, who are all on a police poster of 65 women who vanished from Vancouver between 1978 and 2001.

The petition is at http://www.gopetition.com/online/15976.html.

lculbert@png.canwest.com

Robert "Willie" Pickton should stand trial for remaining 20 murder charges he faces

Signatures

Published by Pam Eyre on Jan 01, 2008

Category: Law & Order

Region: Canada

Target: New Westminster, BC Crown Prosecutors/Attorney-General Wally Oppal

Web site: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/features/pickton/index.html

Description/History:
On February 22, 2002, Robert Pickton was charged with the first two of what would eventually become 26 First-degree murder charges.

These charges were for the murders of Serena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. On December 9, 2007 Robert Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder for killing or having a hand in killing Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Faith Papin and Marnie Frey.

As of December 10, 2007 neither the Crown nor Attorney-General Wally Oppal have determined if Robert Pickton would stand trial for the remaining 20 first-degree murder charges he faces. The trial date for the murder of these 20 women is set to begin on January 17, 2008.

The names of the 20 women Robert Pickton is charged with killing are:
Andrea Borhaven
Heather Bottomley
Heather Chinnock
Wendy Crawford
Sarah deVries
Tiffany Drew
Cara Ellis
Cynthia Feliks
Jennifer Furminger
Inga Hall
Helen Hallmark
Tanya Holyk
Sherry Irving
Angela Jardine
Patricia Johnson
Debra Jones
Kerry Koski
Jacquelene McDonell
Diana Melnick
Dianne Rock

Petition:

We, the undersigned, call on the New Westminster, BC Crown and British Columbia Attorney-General Wally Oppal to pursue the first-degree murder trial against Robert Pickton for the alleged murders of 20 women as scheduled to begin January 17, 2008.

Each and every woman deserves justice, society deserves justice and family members absolutely deserves to see justice done. There is no other way for the hundreds of family members to find closure.

Robert Pickton must stand trial so that all relevant evidence can be properly tested and so that the families affected may see justice done.

Sign the petition

The Robert "Willie" Pickton should stand trial for remaining 20 murder charges he faces petition to New Westminster, BC Crown Prosecutors/Attorney-General Wally Oppal was written by Pam Eyre and is hosted free of charge at GoPetition. http://www.gopetition.com/online/15976.html