Pickton to face sentencing

Last Updated: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 | 7:19 AM PT

CBC News

The families of six women slain after disappearing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside will have their chance to address Robert William Pickton directly Tuesday as the Coquitlam, B.C., pig farmer is sentenced for their murders.

Robert William Pickton, seen here in a court sketch made during his trial, will hear on Tuesday how much time he must serve in prison before he can apply for parole.
(CBC)

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

Pickton faces 20 more murder charges and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 17 to fix a date for a possible second trial.

The six second-degree murder convictions will automatically result in six life sentences to be served concurrently. But on Tuesday, the judge will decide how long Pickton must serve before he can apply for parole. The possible range is 10 to 25 years, again to be served concurrently.

Before sentencing Pickton, Justice James Williams will hear from family members who will address the convicted serial killer directly in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster during their victim impact statements.

The relatives' statements are sure to weigh heavily on the judge's decision, said B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal, who heard many victim impact statements himself during his time as a provincial Supreme Court judge.

"They have a very significant part in the sentencing process," Oppal told CBC News. "Under the law, the judge is obligated to consider the impact the crimes had on the victims."

But the families are not supposed to use the statements as an opportunity to plead for a more severe penalty, said John Rosen, a criminal defence lawyer who represented convicted killer Paul Bernardo.

"The purpose of the victim impact statements is two-fold: firstly, to give the victim a voice in the sentencing process; and secondly, to give them a catharsis, a sense of closure, that they have the final say to some extent as to what's to happen to this man," Rosen told CBC News Tuesday.

Up to Pickton whether to appeal verdict: defence lawyer

Lori-Ann Ellis, whose sister-in-law Cara Ellis is among the 20 other women Pickton is accused of killing, offered her own victim impact statement following Sunday's verdict.

"Mr. Pickton, we can hold our heads high, and we can know that we have the truth," Ellis told a crowd of relatives and reporters outside court. "Every morning, we can look in the mirror. Can you?"

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal says he doubts Pickton "will ever see the light of day again."
(CBC)

Meanwhile Tuesday, Pickton's defence lawyer Adrian Brooks said it would be up to his client whether to appeal the verdict within the 30-day period allowed by law.

"In most murder cases, the accused does appeal," Brooks told CBC News on Tuesday.

In the meantime, Pickton's legal team will follow up the victim impact statements in a way that will be "respectful of the process and respectful of the high emotion of the victims' families," Brooks added.

"It's hard not to feel the emotion and the tragedy of their loss and how they are feeling," he said.

"Yet at the same time it is important that a defence lawyer maintain his objectivity and be able to express to the court those other factors the judge has to take into account when imposing sentence."

Pickton has already served six years in prison while awaiting trial.

Oppal said Pickton has little chance of convincing a parole board to release him.

"It will be difficult to ever conclude that Mr. Pickton will ever see the light of day again," he said.

Some family members and social workers are also calling for a public inquiry into the way police handled the investigation into the missing women. 

They say reports of women going missing from the Downtown Eastside went uninvestigated by Vancouver police for too many years.

Stories of women disappearing from the Downtown Eastside started emerging in the 1980s. By the 1990s, sex trade workers believed a serial killer was at work.

But police kept insisting the missing women were just missing and that there was no evidence of foul play.