Winston Blackmore

The British Columbia Supreme Court is expected to consider in 2010 whether laws prohibiting polygamy are in conflict with Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, The Globe and Mail reported Monday. The case will likely affect religious and immigrant groups across Canada that accept polygamy as a way of life, the newspaper said.

Source/Full Story: breitbart.com

Winston Blackmore of Bountiful, B.C. has made “one prediction” for the coming year for “responsible persons that deliberately break up families”: “This year will be the beginning of your end.”

Blackmore won a court victory in September when B.C. Supreme Court Judge Sunni Stromberg-Stein threw out a charge of criminal polygamy against him and Jim Oler.

Source/Full Story: The Hook

The British Columbia government will not launch an appeal after criminal charges against two polygamist religious leaders were recently thrown out of court.

Instead, Attorney-General Mike de Jong said yesterday he will ask the B.C. Supreme Court to clarify the controversial polygamy laws, and rule on whether they violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The decision takes the province down a route it has been avoiding since 2007, when special prosecutor Richard Peck recommended it ask a court to determine if laws that prohibit polygamy in Canada are constitutional.

Source/Full Story: nationalpost.com
Technorati Tags: Winston Blackmore, James Oler, FLDS

The attorney general of British Columbia said Thursday he will not appeal a court ruling that quashed prosecutions of two polygamous leaders.

Michael de Jong said he will, however, ask the province’s supreme court to settle a conflict between the criminal code and the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms on polygamy.

Section 293 of the criminal code makes polygamy illegal; the charter allows full exercise of religious beliefs.

Source/Full Story: Salt Lake Tribune
Technorati Tags: FLDS, Winston Blackmore, James Oler

Is there anything you would like to say about the Court decision yesterday?

Only to say that I am thankful for this win. I thank God, and I thank Joe and Bruce and their team. I thank all the people that have called in their support. I thank Blair, John, Chuck, and the host of others who were with us in the beginning and pulling for us all the way through.

I thank my family for enduring this trying summer. This was our first win and we needed it. Today we are once again proud to be Canadians. Oh yea, thanks to you media guys that actually wrote a fair story. I hope you don’t get fired!

Source/Full Story: Winston Blackmore’s Blog:  Share The Light
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The Globe and Mail

Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein found that the former attorney-general of B.C. had unfairly gone “special prosecutor shopping” when he ignored the advice of two prosecutors and kept searching until one was found who wanted to press charges.

By doing so, Judge Stromberg-Stein said, the attorney-general “upset the critical balance that … should be kept between political interference and accountability.”

Source: NYTimes.com

A judge dismissed polygamy charges on Wednesday against two leaders of a fundamentalist Mormon sect based in Bountiful, British Columbia. In January, after an extensive police investigation, Winston K. Blackmore, was charged with being married simultaneously to 19 women and James M. Oler was charged with being married to two women. But Justice Sunni S. Stromberg-Stein of the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that the province’s attorney general did not have the authority to appoint a third special prosecutor after two other special prosecutors had recommended not charging the men. Mr. Blackmore’s group is associated with the Yearning For Zion ranch in Eldorado, Tex., where the authorities seized 468 children in a raid in 2008.

Technorati Tags: polygamy

The lawyer for accused polygamist Winston Blackmore is in B.C. Supreme Court Monday, arguing that the charge against him should be dismissed because of an abuse of process.

Mr. Blackmore, the self-styled “Bishop of Bountiful,” is accused of having multiple wives.

His lawyer, Joe Arvay, said yesterday that, if the application to stay the charge is rejected, he will argue that the government should pay for Blackmore’s legal fees to defend himself.

Blackmore was refused legal aid and has written in his blog that he feels the taxpayer should pick up the tab for his legal bills because he is fighting a constitutional battle for religious freedom.

James Oler, Blackmore’s bitter rival, is also facing one count of polygamy.

Mr. Oler’s charge likely will be dismissed if Mr. Blackmore’s court challenge succeeds.

Source/Full Story: theprovince.com

Two B.C. men charged with polygamy — or at least their lawyers — will be back in provincial court on June 25 to set a date for their preliminary hearing.

But before that preliminary hearing goes ahead, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein will hear an application that the charges against Winston Blackmore and James Oler be stayed either because the prosecution is unfair or, alternately, that they be stayed unless the government pays for their defense since this is a constitutional test case.

The lawyers were in B.C. Supreme Court briefly Tuesday to set the rules for the four-day hearing that opens June 29. During that hearing, Blackmore’s lawyer Joe Arvay raised the possibility that former attorney-general Wally Oppal may be called as a witness as might special prosecutor Terry Robertson.

Source/Full Story: vancouversun.com

The federal government is going after two of the women connected to accused polygamist Winston Blackmore for child benefits it alleges they were not entitled to receive, according to documents filed in Tax Court of Canada.

It is demanding sisters Zelpha Chatwin and Marsha Chatwin repay Canada child tax benefits and B.C. family bonus payments.

The two women are among 19 who were allegedly in a polygamous relationship with Blackmore, who was charged with polygamy in January.

The government has asked Zelpha Chatwin to repay about $24,000 that was allegedly paid out over three years earlier this decade.

She received $6,611.66 from July of 2001 to June of 2002 on the basis that she was married or living common law, had eligible children and family income of $31,608.

But after reassessing Blackmore’s finances, the family income included rose to $309,003, which in effect disqualified her from receiving the child tax benefits and family bonus payments, the government stated.

She claimed the family income was $40,653 in the next year. But the government calculated the family income at $568,404, which once again disqualified her from receiving benefits.

Similarly, the government sought repayment from her sister Marsha Chatwin based on a recalculation of Blackmore’s income.

Source/Full Story: Product Design and Development

Lawyers for two B.C. men charged with having multiple wives are planning for a jury trial — if they can’t have the case tossed out before then.

The lawyers for accused polygamists Winston Blackmore and James Oler have two applications before the courts to stay the proceedings before the precedent-setting case even goes to trial.

And Joe Arvay, Blackmore’s lawyer, also has a constitutional challenge up his sleeve for the preliminary hearing if the first applications don’t work.

Both accused are religious leaders from the tiny community of Bountiful, in southeast B.C., where they belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Blackmore is alleged to have 19 wives, Oler three.

Their sect believes that a man has to have at least three wives to get to heaven.

Documents filed by Arvay with B.C. Supreme Court says Crown disclosures allege about 25 per cent of the 1,500 residents of Bountiful live in a polygamous relationship.

On Friday, Arvay told the court he has two applications that may prevent the trial from going forward.

"Part of it goes to the claim that there’s the perception of interference by the attorney general in this prosecution," Arvay said, referring to B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal’s push for criminal charges in the case.

The documents show that several of the province’s best legal minds, dating as far back as 1992, recommend against attempting to prosecute Bountiful leaders because they felt the polygamy law was unconstitutional.

Source/Full Story: CTV.ca

B.C. polygamist Winston Blackmore wants a court order instructing the provincial government to drop the polygamy charge against him unless it is willing to pay his legal costs for a case that centres on the constitutionality of the law.

Blackmore is a fundamentalist Mormon. Although the mainstream Mormon church renounced the practice of polygamy in 1890, fundamentalists continue to follow Joseph Smith’s revelation that men are entitled to have more than one wife.

Blackmore, a former bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was charged in January along with the current FLDS bishop James Oler of having more than one wife.

There are 19 women listed on Blackmore’s indictment and three on Oler’s.

In an application filed Friday by his lawyer Joe Arvay, Blackmore is requesting the government pay for a legal team of senior and junior counsel of his choice who will be paid at the same hourly rate as special prosecutor Terry Robertson and his team are being paid.

The hourly rates range from $75 an hour for articled students to $275 an hour for prosecutors.

Blackmore also wants the order to be retroactive to the time when Arvay was hired.

Additionally, Blackmore is asking for full disclosure of all communications relating to the charge approval process, including the full reports of Richard Peck and Leonard Doust, who were hired by B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal to review the RCMP files.

Both Peck and Doust recommended that no charges be laid and that the Criminal Code’s anti-polygamy section be referred to the B.C. Court of Appeal to determine its constitutionality.

Source/Full Story:: theprovince.com

Polygamist leader Winston Blackmore is asking for government funding to pay for his criminal defense.

During a court appearance last week in Canada, Blackmore sought government assistance to pay for lawyers to defend him on polygamy charges. On a blog he maintains, Blackmore said he believes taxpayer dollars should help in his defense because it is a religious freedom issue affecting all Canadians.

“From the hippies with their free love to the polygamist Muslim and Sikh communities, and yes the Fundamentalist Mormons, we are all proudly Canadians,” he wrote.

Source/Full Story:: Deseret News

Source: vancouversun.com

Winston Blackmore has yet to enter his plea to the criminal charge of practising polygamy, but he’s already on his third lawyer, has filed for legal aid and asked Utah’s attorney-general for help in having his bail conditions amended.

Gone from Blackmore’s legal team is former Liberal MLA Blair Suffredine, even though he attended Blackmore’s two court appearances in Creston, including one last week.

Suffredine was outspoken in his condemnation of same-sex marriages — even though two of Blackmore’s 19 “wives” listed on the indictment are married to each other — suggesting basically that we’ve gone so far down the road to destroying marriage that we might as well have polygamy, too.

Also gone is Glenn Orris, who Suffredine said would be leading the team.

Blackmore’s new lawyer is Joe Arvay, a well-known human rights and constitutional lawyer, whose firm successfully argued before the Supreme Court of Canada that the Constitution protects gays and lesbians from discrimination.

Dealing with how he gets paid may be one of Arvay’s first tasks.

Full Story

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Source: The Canadian Press

Lawyers involved in the case of two men accused of practising polygamy in a small B.C. community may be looking for a change of venue if the controversial case goes to trial.

Winston Blackmore and James Oler, religious community leaders in Bountiful, B.C., attended the 10-minute hearing and the case was put off until Feb. 18.

Linda Mueller, a spokeswoman for the B.C. government, says there was a brief discussion about changing the location of a trial, which would currently be heard in the small town of Creston, about 700 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.

Blackmore is accused of having up to 20 wives and Oler two wives.

Bountiful has about 1,000 residents and has been the subject of several investigations involving allegations of polygamy, sexual abuse and trafficking of teenage brides across the Canada-U.S. border to sister communities in the United States.

The 52-year-old Blackmore and Oler, 44, are the leaders of two rival factions of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Bountiful.

Technorati Tags: Winston Blackmore, James Oler, FLDS

Source: The Canadian Press

Accused B.C. polygamist Winston Blackmore is being represented in court this week by a former member of Premier Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government.

Former Nelson-Creston MLA Blair Suffredine is one of the lawyers who will defend Blackmore in a case that is expected to challenge Canada’s law against polygamy, and may eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Blackmore and James Oler, also charged with polygamy, are scheduled to appear in court in Creston on Wednesday. Both men were released on bail after their arrests earlier this month.

Suffredine says he does not agree with polygamy, but believes Blackmore has an excellent case, especially considering same-sex marriage is legal in Canada.

Suffredine says well-known Vancouver criminal lawyer Glen Orris is also part of Blackmore’s legal team. Suffredine lost his seat to the New Democrats in the 2005 provincial election.

Orris, who was part of the defence team for notorious Vancouver serial killer Robert Pickton, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Technorati Tags: Winston Blackmore, FLDS