Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Serial Killer Robert Pickton Tries To Cash In - Why Son-of-Sam Laws Should Be Enacted Worldwide
Posted by Chimera
Possibly not all of the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton, publicity hound
Son of Sam Anti Bloodmoney Laws
We explained here why laws against blood money are called Son of Sam laws in the US.
Attempts by murderers to persuade gullible publics by way of east access to tone-deaf publishers and TV is becoming an unwelcome phenomenon worldwide and maybe luring others into crime.
Lawmakers worldwide are being prompted to set this right. There is currently no Son-of-Sam Law in the Canadian Province of British Columbia. Vancouver is the largest city in BC.
BC’s Robert Pickton Serial Killer Case
This is a Vancouver case now in the national Canadian news.
The transcription below is a jailhouse conversation between Robert Pickton, who stood accused of murder, and an undercover police officer.
[0:04] Pickton - They got me. They got me on this one.
[0:07] Undercover - No. No shit.
[0:18] Undercover - Fuck, what have they got? Fuck, there’s old carcasses. So, what have they got, you know what I’m saying?
[0:26] Pickton - DNA
[0:28] Undercover - Fuck
[0:30] Pickton - Yeah
[0:32] Undercover - Come on buddy. Fuck, that’s nothing. They can’t finalize it though if you fucking got ... if you’ve fucking got a missing person. It’s pretty hard to collect DNA on that
[0:44] Pickton - They got DNA
[0:45] Undercover - Fucking guy does it right. I find the best way to dispose of something is fucking take it to the ocean
[0:56] Pickton - Oh really?
[0:58] Undercover - Oh, fuck, you know what the fucking ocean does to things? There ain’t much left.
[1:14] Pickton - I did better than that.
[1:15] Undercover - Who?
[1:16] Pickton - Me
[1:17] Undercover - No. huh?
[1:34] Pickton - A rendering plant.
[1:36] Undercover - Hey?
[1:36] Pickton - A rendering plant.
[1:36] Undercover - Ha ha. No shit. That’s gotta be fucking pretty good, hey?
[1:44] Pickton - Mmm hmmm
[1:45] Undercover - There can’t be much fucking left?
[1:52] Pickton - Oh no, only I was kinda sloppy at the end, getting too sloppy.
Now, however, Pickton decides he doesn’t want to be just another inmate serving life. He wants some fame, money and extra publicity as well.
Robert Picton’s Attempt At A Book
With this brazen act Robert Pickton joins the ranks of other sickos who commit murder and then cash in
-
(1) O.J. Simpson was paid $600,000 for Pablo Fenjves and Dominick Dunn to write his book ‘’[If] I did it’‘.
(2) Raffaele Sollecito was paid $950,000 for Andrew Gumbel to write his book ‘‘Honor Bound’’
(3) Salvatore (Sammy) Gravano was paid $1.5 million for Peter Maas to write his book ‘‘Underboss’’
(4) Amanda Knox was ostensibly paid $3.8 million (possible world record) for “Waiting to be Heard’‘
Pickton, who is serving 6 life sentences at the Kent Institution in British Columbia was apparently sending his work out piece by piece to Michael Chilldres out in California. (Author’s Note: it is not clear if “Chilldres” is an alias).
Chilldres claims he only typed out the manuscript, and did not write it, and that it was being done for a friend.
The guards have long been aware of this, according to the Union. But now that publishing is a reality, it is becoming clear that no effort was made to actually stop it.
- *** Side Note *** Robert Pickton’s book, titled ‘‘Pickton: In his Own Words’’ was being sold by Barnes and Noble, who also helped Knox sell her (memoir) ‘‘Waiting to be Heard’‘.
*** Side Note *** Pickton supposedly wrote his own manuscript, unlike creative writing graduate Knox.
*** Side Note *** Pickton actually waited until his appeals were exhausted before writing a book (or having someone else do it).
A Partial Timeline
The numerous cruel murders took place more than a decade ago.
- December 2006: Jury selection takes place.
December 2007: Pickton was convicted on 6 counts of 2nd degree murder (not 1st degree) and sentenced to 6 life sentences.
February 2008: The B.C. Attorney General makes the controversial decision ‘‘not’’ to try Pickton for the additional 20 murders, if his current 6 convictions survive appeal
June 2009: The BC Court of Appeals rejects 2-1 Pickton’s appeal for a new trial, saying the errors in jury instructions were not enough to overturn the conviction.
July 2010: The Supreme Court of Canada rejects 9-0 Pickton’s appeal for a new trial.
August 2010: BC confirms that to save time, money and hardship, the other 20 murder victims will not result in additional charges.
To clear up the confusion, the police and prosecutors actually had evidence that Pickton committed 26 murders, although he was suspected in many more.
The Crown (Prosecution), chose to only prosecute the 6 strongest cases, leaving the other 20 in limbo.
The Crown argued that there wasn’t much of a difference between 6 life sentences and 26, and the time and expense had to be considered.
While this is true, it left a bad taste for the families of those victims. Justice wasn’t being pursued literally because of convenience.
Present State Of The Case
The Attorney General, Premier, and victims right’s groups are working to ensure not only that this book gets pulled, but that Pickton cannot profit from it. Some more:
- Prison guards reported book
Correctional Service warned of Pickton book
Pickton trial timeline
Premier hopes to stop sale of Robert Pickton book
Posted by Chimera on 03/02/16 at 11:06 PM in The legal followups, The wider contexts, N America context
Comments
A disgusting freak who preyed on women and disposed of them at his hog rendering plant.
Here is the decision from the 2009 B.C. Court of Appeals verdict, which denied in a split decision (2-1) the request for a new trial.
Even though the dissenting appeal judge thought that a new trial should have been ordered (partly due to faulty jury instructions), it was never stated or implied that the court ever thought Pickton was actually innocent.
Since the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed the BC top Court ruling, the matter is now over.
Back to the topic at hand: It is morally repulsive to cash in on crimes like what Pickton did. However, as long as publishers see dollar signs (or potential dollar signs), someone will make a book or movie. See Sammy Gravano, an admitted serial killer of 19, in the last article.
Canada and the U.S. have some of the strongest anti-blood-money laws. And even where there is no explicit Son-of-Sam law, there are other provisions.
Yes, media outrage killed Pickton’s book. But it should never have come to be in the first place.
Stronger laws needed, or better enforcement? Or both?
Posted by Chimera on 03/03/16 at 11:15 AM | #
Hi Chimera
Not our first post on this vexed question. There are several organizations in the US who provide some help to victims families over deals like this and over stalking, but their first word of advice is it is still very weighted against those families.
Two things alleged killers have going for them in the US are (1) the First Amendment seeing most speech as “free” and (2) innocent-until-proven-guilty, which can take a year or two to evolve into another status.
In Pickton’s case, who were at least some of the victims? Those alleged killers who hire PR like Knox inevitably try to erase the victims to make it easier for at least some to sympathize with them. I imagine at least some of the families got to talk on TV?
Does Pickton have any constituency? Just about every serial killer under the sun seems to attract one or some who get some thrill out of going to bat for him. If so what has their campaign looked like? Was there any stalking reported?
What of the police here? The killer here seems to have been mentally retarded and yet it took so many deaths for the police to connect up the dots. Was there any psychological profiling? (Not that that solved many crimes, at least so far.)
And especially, what of the various official systems here? How did such an enormous number of women get trapped by this guy without systems setting off bells and whistles and dots being connected? Are the systems now any better? Are there reports issued of investigations into why so many elements of the systems failed here
Finally is there any Canadian equivalent of Nancy Grace and the several real-crime channels and websites in the US which do go up against the various initiatives by killers?
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/03/16 at 02:42 PM | #
Pete,
Most of Pickton’s victims were prostitutes. It is believed that they were targeted as they (1) vulnerable; (2) many came from broken or dysfunctional families which meant less likely to report; (3) had risky jobs, which meant any concentrated police effort would be difficult.
Victims groups have long accused the police of negligence in investigating the matter. It is possible that police just never put it together.
http://www.citynews.ca/2007/01/22/who-were-picktons-alleged-victims/
Pickton doesn’t seem to have any ‘‘Groupies’’ or any ‘‘Followers’‘. So it isn’t clear how this arrangement with the book came to be.
It also isn’t clear why jail officials—who quite clearly knew a book was in progress—did nothing to stop it.
As for Canadian media, yes high profile crime does get reported here. The latest national news (going on a few years), is alleged fraud and corruption within the Senate: Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, Mac Harb .... have all been charged, and many others are being investigated. No one name stands out for being particularly hard hitting.
There is a good documentary series (sadly inactive) which covered closed cases called ‘‘Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science’‘.
People like Paul Bernardo/Karla Homolka, Russell Williams, Cody Legedokoff get razed in the papers, but I haven’t seen any indication that the actual court proceedings get influenced.
Posted by Chimera on 03/03/16 at 11:06 PM | #
It’s too bad Robert Pickton did not meet Amanda Knox.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 03/04/16 at 03:23 AM | #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Where next:
Click here to return to The Top Of The Front PageOr to next entry Italian Justice & The Telling Status Of Extraditions To And From Italy
Or to previous entry Italy Fights For Justice For A Murdered Student As The UK Government Never Did