Canada's highest court will decide Friday if Robert Pickton's six second-degree murder convictions will stand, or if the case will have to be tried again.
Pickton was found guilty on the six counts on Dec. 9, 2007, but the notorious Vancouver-area pig farmer had been facing 20 additional charges.
None of those additional charges have gone to trial, and if the Supreme Court decides that the current six convictions stand, the other charges will be stayed.
However, B.C. prosecutors say that they will pursue convictions in all of the 26 cases if the Supreme Court tosses the initial guilty verdicts.
The crux of the legal wrangling centres on claims that Pickton did not receive a fair trial, despite the fact that 129 witnesses took part in the proceedings and lawyers had to contend with 1.3 million pages of documents. The cost of Pickton's trial has been estimated in the tens of millions of dollars.
The Supreme Court has heard that the trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams, told jurors during deliberations that Pickton could be convicted, despite concerns that he may have had help in the grisly crimes.
Williams' statement contradicted his earlier opinion. In fact, Williams had previously said that prosecutors must prove that Pickton actually killed the victims, and wasn't simply a participant in the death.
CTV legal analyst Steven Skurka said the apparent flip-flop represented a problem for the prosecution.
"It was fundamentally unfair to the defence to introduce a new theory on the sixth day of jury deliberations. Indeed, that Robert Pickton hadn't acted alone in the murder, but indeed had accomplices."
But for the families of the victims, the new legal wrangling is pulling apart emotional wounds which are still fresh.
Still, though some families have accepted closure in the case, others hope that justice will finally be served for their loved ones.
"I hope they order a new trial, I really do. Those other families, the other 20, need accountability and justice for their lost loved ones," said Lynn Frey, whose daughter Marnie Lee Frey was murdered.
Pickton was sentenced to life behind bars three years ago, and for some, that's enough.
"My philosophy is ‘a bird in the hand.' So I'm hoping his conviction is upheld, that his future is a small federal jail cell somewhere in Canada for the balance of his life," said Ernie Crey, whose sister's death may be linked to the Pickton property.
Dawn's DNA was found on Pickton's farm in Port Coquitlam, but he was never charged in the death.
With a report from CTV's Janet Dirks
