NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. - Final arguments in the first-degree murder trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton will be delayed a week.
Crown and defence lawyers were granted a request to postpone the start of their final submissions to the jury to Nov. 19, instead of the scheduled start on Tuesday.
Justice James Williams told the jury at the close of the defence case last month that he expected the Crown and defence arguments to take a total of three days, followed by three days of instructions to the jury by the judge.
That means the jury is likely to begin its deliberations in the six-count murder indictment against Pickton about Nov. 27.
The accused is facing six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury, Mona Wilson and Sereena Abotsway. He is scheduled to face an additional 20 counts of murder at a second trial that hasn't been scheduled yet.
He was arrested in February 2002 and the jury trial began Jan. 22.
