Submissions in B.C. child-bride case wraps up, judge to rule Feb. 3
CRANBROOK, B.C. — The fates of three people accused of removing girls from Canada so that they could be married to older men are now in the hands of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman, who is to deliver his verdict on Feb. 3.
Lawyers wrapped up their submissions Wednesday in a case that delved into the polygamous beliefs and practices in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Brandon Blackmore, Gail Blackmore and James Oler — who are, or have been members of the church — are accused of taking girls across the border for a sexual purpose in 2004.
The three are connected to the community of Bountiful in southeastern British Columbia, where the trial heard plural marriage was practised.