The charges against accused serial killer Robert (Willie) Pickton will proceed with a first
trial on six counts, to be followed by a second 20-count trial, the Crown indicated Friday.Justice James Williams ruled in August that the charges against Pickton should be broken into two groups but it was not decided at that time which trial would start first. The trial is set to begin on Jan. 8, 2007.Pickton is charged with killing 26 women who disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.Stan Lowe, who speaks for the prosecutors in the Pickton case, said Friday that proceeding with a six-count trial does not weaken the Crown's case. Those
counts pertain to the first-degree murder of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey.The defence does not anticipate asking for a publication
ban during the first trial to avoid contaminating a
jury pool for the second 20-count trial, said defence lawyer Peter Ritchie . Lowe was non-committal when
asked the same question.Ritchie said a trial with just six counts will make it easier for a jury to digest the evidence, and could shorten the hearing to one year in length. Ritchie previously estimated a 26-count trial could last two years.Normally, under the Canadian system, potential jurors are asked only if it would be a hardship to serve on the jury, Ritchie said.Pickton was not in court Friday, but monitored the proceedings through a videolink to the North Fraser Pretrial Centre where he has been in custody since February 2002.The proceedings are to resume on Sept. 18 for more pre-trial hearings. All
evidence is under a publication ban until the trial starts
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