VANCOUVER - Gasps erupted in the courtroom more a year ago when a jury foreman announced a "not guilty" verdict for Robert Pickton on the charge of first-degree murder.
In short order, the foreman announced the jury did find Pickton guilty of the second-degree murders of six women. After more than five years of pre-trial arguments, testimony and legal manoeuvring, Pickton was a convicted serial killer.
But his lengthy journey through the Canadian criminal justice system continues Monday, when the B.C. Court of Appeal will begin hearing duelling appeals by both the Crown and the defence in the case.
The Crown would like Pickton convicted of first-degree murder, while the defence wants a retrial on second-degree murder charges.
There are several possible outcomes from the continuing legal fight.
If the Appeal Court rejects the defence arguments and upholds the six convictions, B.C.'s attorney general and the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch have already said the province will drop plans for a trial on the remaining 20 murders Pickton is accused of committing.
Or, the court could accept defence arguments and order a new trial for Pickton.
If that happens, the defence wants any new trial to be on six counts of second-degree murder, while the Crown has said it will ask the court to set aside the not guilty verdicts on first-degree murder and order a new trial on all 26 first-degree counts listed in the initial indictment against the Port Coquitlam farmer.
Pickton, 59, initially faced 26 first-degree murder counts, but the trial judge separated the charges into two trials to simplify the process. Pickton has been convicted of killing Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey and Brenda Wolfe.
One of the Crown's appeal arguments will be that the trial judge erred in deciding to hear only six counts in the initial trial.
The Crown will also argue that the judge erred by failing to instruct the jury that dismemberment and disposal of the victims' remains on the Pickton property was relevant to the issue of planning and deliberation, with regards to a first-degree murder charge.
The Appeal Court has set aside nine days to hear Crown and defence arguments -- an extraordinarily long hearing for the court.
"The amount of time set aside reflects a couple of things," said Crown spokesman Neil McKenzie. "One is the fact that the court will be dealing with a trial that lasted a year."
McKenzie was referring to the jury portion of the trial, which lasted a year, but the trial really began a year earlier with legal arguments that took place before the jury was even chosen.
"The other aspect that increases the time required is that there are two appeals underway," McKenzie said.
"There is the defence appeal of the convictions of second-degree murder and the Crown appeal of the acquittal on the first-degree murder charges."
Defence lawyer Gil McKinnon said arguments Monday will focus on a video the Crown wants the judges to view. The Crown wants to show the court a 35-minute video of statements Pickton made to police and undercover officers.
The video has been condensed considerably from the more than 11 hours of footage the jury watched of Pickton's interview with police after his arrest in February 2002, as well as conversations with an undercover officer in his cell.
The defence is opposed because a transcript of the conversations has already been provided to the court.
The defence arguments will focus primarily on trial judge Justice James Williams's instructions to the jury on the sixth day of deliberations, when jurors returned with a question.
Ultimately, Williams ended up changing his instruction to the jury, saying he had been "not sufficiently precise" and "in error" in three paragraphs of his original charge.
He told jurors they could consider whether they believed Pickton actually shot some of the victims, or was an active participant but didn't pull the trigger.
"I regret that I misinformed you," he said. "It was inadvertent. However, it is important that you be instructed (as) properly as I'm able and thus these amendments have been provided to you."
The change involved his instructions on the deaths of three of the six women -- Abotsway, Wilson and Joesbury. Those three victims' bisected heads were found near the trailer of the accused. All had been shot in the head.
