The Crown confirmed on Friday that Robert Pickton will face only six counts of first-degree murder when a jury is empanelled in January to hear the case against him.

Pickton faces26 counts of first-degree murder involving women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Last month, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that trying all 26 charges at once would take too long and would place an unreasonable burden on the jury.

Justice James Williams said the case needed to be separated into two trials and recommended that six counts be tried separately.

He said the Crown should proceed with the charges stemming from the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey.

Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said Friday the second trial on the remaining 20 counts of murder is too far off to discuss.

"Our focus first and foremost is on these six counts. Once we complete the six counts in this trial, once this matter is completed before the courts, we'll shift our focus then to the remaining 20 counts.

"So I don't think it would be prudent to speculate on the second trial at this time."

Pickton was arrested in February 2002 and was originally charged with 15 counts of first-degree murder. Another 12 charges were laid in May 2005.

One of the charges was thrown out.

The voir dire phase of the trial, in which the Crown and defence argue over which evidence is admissible, began in January and continues.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin in December, with 3,500 people expected to be called for jury duty.

The jurors are expected to start hearing the case in early January 2007.

The trial on 26 counts had been expected to take two years, but now that the case has been split, it's expected jurors will only have to sit through one year of testimony.