Justice Was Not Served In Vancouver Today

The jury moments ago has reached their verdict in the Robert Pickton murder trial. They convicted Mr. Pickton on all 6 counts but of the lesser charge of second degree murder. In essence, these jurors are stating that the evidence showed that Mr. Pickton did not deliberately plan to murder these 6 women. The body count alone should have put into the minds of jurors that these murders were thought out and well planned.

Even though, the trial took place in New Westminster - this is very much a "Vancouver" trial.

Currently, CBC Newsworld seems to be downplaying the fact that guilty is guilty (and it should not be a huge difference over the degree that he was found guilty on). However, this means that he could be be granted parole though I do believe that the Judge would not grant it in this case.

The verdict outcome goes a long way in my opinion to proving that the general public simply do not understand the facts presented to them on both sides effectively. I believe that juries fail the justice system as a whole because they do not have the knowledge and understanding to process the information presented to them in trials.

As I am writing this, my thoughts cannot help but form around the fact that these workers were sex-trade workers. If these were simply 6 woman with jobs that society feels comfortable with, would the outcome of the verdict be first degree murder? I believe that it would have made a difference. However, I am not in the minds of the jury and unaware of what they were thinking.

I am still dismayed with the Vancouver Police, and their lack of concern over those missing who society decrees beneath worthiness. Women have been disappearing in the same area of Vancouver for a number of years, and the Police chose to ignore the families and friends of these victims. How many lives could perhaps have been saved, if the Vancouver Police chose to do their job? We will never know the answer to this.

There has already been comments on the media of how perhaps the number of friends who commented on the side of Robert Pickton that they knew (the nice and caring side), could have influenced the jury. How many times have we heard the friends and families of Serial Killers, talk about how "nice" they were? I can immediately think of 6 names of men who have been convicted of multiple murders, and their families and friends stated how they were so nice and friendly.
It is almost as if people cannot fathom that a nice person could do horrible things. People tend to see what they want to see, and these people are experts at manipulating others. It would be only too easy for them to fool those around them into seeing what they only want others to see, and not their true selves.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of these victims. For the murdered women were not the only victims of these crimes; but so were the families and friends who have had to fought and sacrifice so much to get the names of their loved ones accepted as missing persons.

Now is the time to finally accept the number of missing women in Canada, and perhaps we can save the suffering of others by taking action. This will prove that we have learned the lessons from the horrible mistakes that were made in the Robert Pickton Case.