By Canadian Press

Lawyer for victims’ family members doubts Pickton will ever be granted parole

Feb 22, 2024 | 11:23 AM

VANCOUVER — Serial killer Robert Pickton is now eligible to apply for day parole, but a lawyer representing family members of some of his victims says there’s no chance of it being granted. 

The Parole Board of Canada confirmed Pickton can ask for parole, and Leyla Mavaddat, a spokeswoman for the board’s Quebec regional office, says that if it was approved, it would allow the killer to be moved to a transitional home.

Mavaddat says such requests can take months before a hearing is scheduled, but she couldn’t confirm whether Pickton had made an application.

Jason Gratl, who represents several family members of Pickton’s victims in a civil court lawsuit, says the serial killer has a “snowball’s chance in hell” of ever being released on parole. 

He says Pickton is in a supermax prison in Quebec, and is “as far in the universe from parole as a man can be.” 

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Gratl says the lawsuit filed more than a decade ago on behalf of several family members of victims remains ongoing against Robert Pickton and his brother David Pickton. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2024. 

The Canadian Press