It’s been a quiet morning here, my husband still sleeping in, and a light dusting of snow on greater Victoria. I haven’t had CBC radio on, my usual companion, as the computer desk sits near the open bedroom door. So I just cruised by the CBC website for a news check.
It seems only a short while ago that the friends and families of the missing women were still trying to convince the police and the public that there was something going on in the Downtown Eastside. Now we have a guilty verdict, but it’s far from over, as there is, if I recall correctly, to be another trial on more counts of murder.
I hope the families of the women find some resolution and some peace, somehow. And I do wish that all people, including prostitutes, were protected equally. This never, ever should have happened to anyone.
I am not sure that Pickton is the only one guilty here. Maybe the defense did its job very well, but I wonder about accomplices being involved.
The article talks about the difference in time for eligibility for parole between 1st and 2nd degree convictions. I would have thought Pickton would be tagged with Dangerous Offender status faster than you can blink and that wouldn’t be an issue. Can anyone elucidate the matter?
Why is it second degree? Are they cutting him some slack because he’s a loon? I’d think they would nail him for multiple first degree and throw the key away.
I was starting to think that myself. I too am wondering about accomplices… his brother being the obvious one, but it seems all but certain that some people saw something, give how sloppy he was over such a long period of time.
I take it that the jury wasn’t convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Pickton that premeditated the murders - that there was some reasonable possibility that someone else was the primary villain and he was just along for the ride.
I caught a bit of the coverage on CBC Newsworld. Apparently, women are still going missing from the Downtown Eastside to this day. Whether they drift away, get on a bus, get a new start on life somewhere else, overdose, commit suicide or are murdered, I don’t know. But it’s not right that we let people live like that.
According to tonight’s Global National report, the prosecution witnesses indicated Pickton was the murderer, but could offer little as to whether the murders were “planned and deliberate,” as is required for first-degree murder the Criminal Code. I’m going to conjecture here, but maybe the Crown felt it was safer to go for “Pickton did it,” rather than trying for (and possibly failing at) “Pickton planned to do it and did it deliberately.”
“Seeing something” isn’t the same as being an accomplice, though. There is no law that says you have to tell the police about everything you’re suspicious of, and people will often tend to convince themselves away from believing the worst of things.
Pickton is never getting out of prison; the degree of murder he’s convicted of is quite beside the point. Even if he’s not tagged with DOS, which he will be, what parole board would ever let him out?
It was the jury that decided he was not a first-degree murderer, not the crown. He was charged with 1st and 2nd degree murder.
Although when you stop and think about it, that kind of makes it sound like murdering was just a bad habit he would indulge in at random occasions.
I am very glad he’s been found guilty. I am still horrified that the only reason he was caught was because some Port Coquitlam officers decided to investigate a gun complaint and came across fridges full of body parts. I am outraged that Vancouver police actively discouraged investigations into the disappearance of dozens of women.
Thanks, ignorance fought. I just read the BBC article on him. Holey Moley! :eek: 27 victims? This guy’s right up there with Jeffrey Dahmer and the like. I’m a proponent of the DP and this guy would be an excellent candidate but as long as he never gets out I guess it’ll do.
I tuned in during the police press conference and heard something along the lines of “This is not over, and now that we have this verdict we must return to finding the person or persons responsible for their deaths.”
I sat there for a while, gobsmacked, thinking that a “not guilty” verdict had been returned - before it became clear that they were carefully referring to the murders that he hadn’t been charged with yet.
No - dangerous offender sentences aren’t available for offences carrying life sentences. See the definition of “serious personal injury offence” in s. 752 of the Criminal Code:
The reason for this approach is that the dangerous offender sentence was designed to apply to offences that didn’t carry a life sentence. It essentially creates a life sentence for offences that don’t carry a life sentence, for rare cases where the accused poses an extraordinary risk to the public. There’s no purpose to apply it to offences that already carry a life sentence.
I am personally opposed to the death penalty, but I must admit that men like Pickton test that stance. Hopefully we’ll be able to lock him away where he’ll never see the sun again.
Even if he is eventually “eligible” for parole, that doesn’t mean that he’ll have much of a chance of actually getting paroled, does it?