NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -
Robert Pickton's lawyer said Wednesday there are stronger DNA links between the accused serial-killer's purported victims and a couple of his friends than with the pig farmer himself.
In his third day of dissecting the Crown's complex case against Pickton, Adrian Brooks said the B.C. Supreme Court jury is not being given the full picture as authorities rushed to judge his client.
He suggested DNA from Pat Casanova, Pickton's partner in a small-time pig-butchering business, is more prevalent in key areas of the property than that of Pickton.
"The evidence of Willie's association with the six women ranges from the non-existent to the minimal, in all cases less than the association of Pat Casanova to these women,'' Brooks said.
There are also DNA connections between some victims and Dinah Taylor, a Pickton confidant and sometime resident of his junk-strewn property.
Both Casanova and Taylor were arrested in the lengthy murder investigation but never charged.
The lawyer, who indicated that he will need to go into a fourth day Thursday before concluding his submissions to the jury, was harshly critical of what he called the "Crown's approach'' to the case and suggested it focused exclusively on Pickton and ignored evidence that pointed to others.
Brooks said DNA matches of Casanova were found in areas "that are significant,'' including the trailer where Pickton resided and the pig butchering slaughterhouse next door to the trailer.
The jury in the 10-month trial has heard evidence the slaughterhouse was used extensively by Casanova and Pickton, who worked together often.
Jurors also heard Taylor lived in Pickton's trailer for some months.
"You will see clearly that the Pat Casanova evidence is stronger forensic evidence than Willie Pickton's,'' the lawyer said.
Using PowerPoint slides, Brooks took the jury inside a part of Pickton's slaughterhouse, specifically pointing to the east wall of the building.
He made a comparison of items in that area and asked the jury to consider how many were linked to Pickton's DNA and how many to Casanova's.
"What we have as we deal with this evidence of Mr. Casanova is it associates him to sites, particular places. It associates him to women,'' Brooks said.
"It does so in a way that I suggest to you is very important to take into account. It is stronger than the evidence against Mr. Pickton.''
Casanova's DNA is also found in Pickton's trailer residence and on other items, including a plastic sheet located near a freezer in Pickton's workshop.
Samples from a door in the barn showed a mix of Casanova and Mona Wilson, one of the women Pickton is accused of killing.
Brooks said the Crown can't seriously suggest some of the DNA from Wilson and Casanova were deposited separately.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that is not the case,'' he said. "I suggest to you that you draw the inference that this association is probably the strongest, indeed it is the strongest of Mr. Casanova. It is very, very important to understand the evidence.''
Brooks also said there's no forensic evidence to connect Pickton with the dismemberment of the victims' remains, and no evidence the women had been in his vehicles.
"The physical evidence of strangulation is non-existent,'' he added, referring to testimony from Pickton acquaintance Andrew Bellwood, who said Pickton told him he would strangle the women from behind before dismembering them.
The Crown's theory also does not account for forensic evidence connected to Taylor found on clothes, makeup, jewelry, handcuffs, duct tape, syringes and other items.
Some of the items had DNA profiles of Taylor and victims Sereena Abotsway, Brenda Wolfe and Mona Wilson.
Brooks directed part of his arguments to the suggestion that the police and Crown approach to the investigation was flawed from the outset because it focused on "Willie Pickton and him alone and other evidence was not followed up on.''
He suggested the jury should consider that Lynn Ellingsen, Taylor and Casanova were arrested but never charged even though there was evidence of their presence on the property.
Although Taylor and the accused's brother Dave Pickton were mentioned often at the trial, Brooks sounded critical of the fact that neither was called by the Crown to testify.
With all the evidence showing Taylor was present on the property often, Brooks told the jury that they "are not getting the full picture.''
Pickton is on trial accused of murdering Abotsway, Wolfe, Wilson, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury and Marnie Frey.
Brooks dubbed a closed room in Pickton's trailer as Taylor's "trophy room'' and said one lipstick item bore the DNA of Taylor and Wolfe.
"Why does Dinah Taylor have Brenda Wolfe's lipstick?'' he asked.
Other makeup found in the bedroom of the trailer had Joesbury's DNA.
"She has taken over the makeup of other women,'' the lawyer said.
A rosary identified as belonging to Wilson was found in the trailer's bedroom and Brooks said her and Taylor's DNA was on it.
"The Dinah Taylor association to the women gets stronger and stronger and stronger,'' said Brooks.
Police found inhalers linked to Abotsway in a garbage can outside the trailer and Brooks told the jury there were other items in the container linked to Taylor.
The Crown has not yet started its final arguments.
Brooks also reminded jurors that bullets found in the remains of two of the victims were never matched to any guns found on his farm.
He cautioned the jury not to jump to any conclusions about one gun found on the property that contained DNA from Pickton and one of the women.
The fact that a bullet from that gun was found in another building on the property shows the gun wasn't handled only by Pickton, said Brooks.
Pickton is currently on trial for the murders of six Vancouver women and is expected to stand trial on a remaining 20 charges at a later date.
Brooks, in summarizing the defence's case during the trial, again pointed to some of the "key players'' and focused on the testimony of Gina Houston, a close friend of Pickton's.
Brooks said that during a conversation a couple of days before he was arrested, he told her that there "one and two or three, four and five or six bodies.''
"He told her they were buried three and a half feet or something. The Crown is obviously going to rely on that to say that helps prove their case,'' said Brooks.
"But think about it closely, analyze evidence closely, all evidence in this case very closely, when you do you will see that it does not do so.''
Brooks reminded the jury that no bodies were found buried.
"You know that's not the evidence, you know that's not how the bodies (remains) were found. He is saying this because he doesn't have the knowledge of a murderer.''
Brooks also pointed out that Pickton "doesn't know the number of bodies. If he's the murderer he knows the number of bodies. Surely, he knows that.''
