Editing Robert Pickton (section)

== Trial and Conviction ==

==== '''''Preliminary Inquiry''''' ====
The preliminary inquiry began in 2003, after the lengthy search and excavation of his property was completed. The findings from this inquiry were under a publication until 2010. This inquiry revealed that:
* Robert Pickton had been charged in 1997, following the attempted murder of a prostitute named Wendy Lynn Eistetter at his farm. She stated that he had handcuffed her and stabbed her with a knife before she had disarmed him, injured him, and escaped. She and Pickton were both treated for knife wounds in the same hospital, where staff used a key found in his pocket to unlock her handcuffs. These charges were later dropped, allegedly due to the woman's drug addition and instability.
* The clothes and rubber boots that Pickton had been wearing were seized following the incident in 1997, and held in storage by RCMP for seven years. Testing was not preformed until 2004, and this revealed the presence of the DNA from two missing girls.
* In 1998, police received a tip from a police hotline saying that Pickton should be investigated in the disappearances, but this was never followed up on. In 1999, they received another tip that Pickton had a freezer filled with human flesh. They questioned Pickton, and obtained his permission to conduct a search of his property, but never performed one.

==== '''''Trial''''' ====
Pickton's trial began on January 30, 2006 in New Westminster, BC, where Pickton pleaded not guilty to 27 charges of first degree murder. It took most of a year for the courts to decide which evidence would be admissible. The judge eventually decided that the unidentified bones would be inadmissable, due to lack of evidence. He then severed the charges, on August 9, splitting them into the six charges where bones or body parts were discovered and the twenty others. This was done both to expedite the trial, lessen the burden on the jury, and provide fewer opportunities for a mistrial.

The trial regarding the first six charges began on January 22, 2007. On December 9, 2007, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the charges of first degree murder, but guilty on six counts of second degree murder. Pickton was sentanced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years, which was the maximum punishment for a second degree murder conviction.

The additional twenty charges were formally stayed, in 2010, as the evidence was more likely to be overturned and it would not have led to any increase in punishment.

All told, the investigation and prosecution cost Canadian taxpayers $102 million.