CRANBROOK, British Columbia (AP) - The Latest on former leaders of a an isolated polygamous commune in Canada being convicted of polygamy (all times local):
4:00 p.m.
A second former leader of an isolated polygamous commune in Canada has been convicted of practicing polygamy after a decades-long legal fight.
James Oler was found guilty Monday by a judge for having five wives in the tiny community of Bountiful. Winston Blackmore was found guilty earlier in the day for having 25 wives.
Blackmore’s lawyer had said before the verdict that he would challenge the constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy laws if his client was found guilty.
Blackmore and Oler are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage. The group is based on the Utah-Arizona border in the United States.
The mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy in the late 19th century.
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2:44 p.m.
A former bishop of an isolated polygamous commune in Canada has been convicted of practicing polygamy after a decades-long legal fight.
Winston Blackmore was found guilty Monday by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Sheri Ann Donegan. Justice Donegan says the evidence showed Blackmore was married to 25 women at the same time in the tiny community of Bountiful.
Blackmore’s lawyer had said before the verdict he would challenge the constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy laws if his client was found guilty.
Blackmore is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage. The group is based on the Utah-Arizona border in the United States.
The mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy in the late 19th century.
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