Dudleigh Donut is Striking Again

The trial of the century - Canada-wise at least - has opened in British Columbia. It involves a fellow called Picton who is being held up as the murderer of enough prostitutes to make the Green River guy only seem like Jack the Ripper. Not only is he reputed to have murdered them, he also butchered them and fed the bodies to his hogs - we hope. He certainly marketted his pork to 'us'.

The RCMP has been involved in this one from the get go. Since he was 'busted' they've dug up and screened most of the soil on his 'farm'. Pre-trial information in the press is that they have DNA evidence linking some of the missing women to his farm site - blood, and other fluids, clothing, etc. It appears there might even be eyewitnesses to some of the events. Body parts have neen found on the site, and some have been tied to parts found in other areas of BC. The evidence that killings were done there seems to be fairly strong, but doesn't prove, so far, that Picton did them.

Now I don't know the guy from Adam, but if there had to be a poster boy for mass-murder this guy looks the part. If what the media says is correct, the case looks like a 'slam dunk'. But then the realization dawns that the Mounties are involved, and all of a sudden the niggling notion that there's a cluster-fuck in the offing bubbles nastily in the back of the mind.

Let's face it, aside from bagging drunken Natives, the boys (and girls) in red have a miserable track record. And they've cost the Canadian taxpayer millions because of their ineptitude. The bikers in Quebec, Mulroney's bribes, the Air India fiasco, Arar - all those 'open and shut' cases went south because either somebody was incompetent or dishonest, and the results were costly in time, resources, embarrassment and punitive lawsuits. A confession from Picton would have been a great assist. But, even given his limited intellectual capacities, Picton refused to do that. That's where the 'investigative skills' came into play, and, possibly, where normal procedure, and Picton's rights, went out the window.

Picton's lawyers are going to beat the police around the head and ears with that - they already have the lead investigator admitting he's a liar. (Qualification: He's not an ordinary liar, he's a professional liar - it only happens as part of his job... with bad guys. So help him Gawd!)

They're going to need all 'Gawd's' help they can get, and probably incontrovertable evidence that Picton did it.

If it depends on police testimony alone, they should be taking up a collection among themselves to cover his lawsuit.

Gawd help us all.