![]() ![]() When pressed by the investigator, Child 5 added that he “thought it’d be like in a few years”, a statement that Wilson characterized as fatal to the prosecution’s case against Suspect 3.Ĭentral to the Crown’s case in all removal of a child from Canada prosecutions, within the context of the FLDS, is the expectation that sexual relations is is foreseeable as a certain consequence of the marriage. In an interview with investigators, Child 5 said her father, Suspect 3, told her he knew she was to be married to FLDS church leader Warren Jeffs, but did not think she would “marry him so young”. Problems with the count against Suspect 3 included the inability to prove the mental element of the crime. Additionally, there is no evidence that Suspect 2 ever crossed the border at all. for the purpose of a polygamous marriage. The count against Suspect 2 suffered from the same problem as Suspect 1 - there is no ability for the Crown to prove that Child 5 was being taken to the U.S. However, while new evidence makes it possible to prove that Suspect 2 made a phone call to direct Suspect 2, Crown is unable to prove Child 4 and Child 5 were being sent across the border for the purpose of a polygamous marriage. In the proposed count against Suspect 1, there was no evidence in relation to the removal of two children in 2014, when Wilson reviewed the initial report to Crown Counsel. Wilson’s statement broke down the proposed charges against Suspect 1, Suspect 2 and Suspect 3, who were investigated for the removal of additional children - Child 4 and Child 5 - from Canada. However, Oler’s acquittal was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered, where he was subsequently found guilty.īuried in the announcement from the B.C.Prosecution Service is new information describing the circumstances of additional child removal charges recommended against three unnamed suspects that were not pursued due to an unlikely chance of conviction. The Blackmores were eventually found guilty of removing a 13-year-old girl to marry Warren Jeffs, the FLDS leader, while Oler was acquitted of the same charge for removing a 15-year-old girl to marry an American FLDS member. In 2014, Brandon James Blackmore, Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore and Oler were charged with the removal offences. Wilson approved and prosecuted polygamy charges against Winston Blackmore and James Oler, while also approving charges of removal of a child from Canada stemming from underage child brides that were taken from the community and married to American men associated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The announcement included a statement from Peter Wilson, a special prosecutor appointed by the provincial government, who reviewed evidence collected by law enforcement and approved charges relating to investigations into Bountiful, a fundamentalist Mormon community in the southern interior of B.C. A special prosecutor will not be approving any further charges stemming from investigations into a polygamous community south of Creston. ![]()
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