New charge filed in Canadian polygamy case

Canadian prosecutors have filed a new charge against a pair of polygamist leaders.

An amended criminal information was filed in a British Columbia court on Thursday merging the cases against polygamist leader Winston Blackmore and Fundamentalist LDS Church Bishop Jim Oler into a single case.

"We have added one wife to Oler's charge," special prosecutor Terry Robertson told the Deseret News on Friday. "After the original information was sworn we went back and reviewed our material and thought we had sufficient evidence to justify the new charge."

Both men are charged with practicing polygamy. They are scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 18, where Robertson said he anticipates asking a judge to transfer the case from the tiny town of Creston to the metropolis of Vancouver, because of conflicts of interest with the provincial judges in the Kootenay region.

Canadian prosecutors have said Blackmore, 52, has as many as 19 wives and Oler, 44, is now listed as having three wives in the indictment.

Blackmore has blasted the charges as "religious prosecution."

"I am what I am, we are what we are," Blackmore wrote in a statement to the Deseret News shortly after he was charged, saying he will remain faithful. "Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. He has taught us, and I have taught my children that they should pray for their enemies as well as their friends. That is what we will continue to do."

FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop has accused Canada of carrying out a "vindictive hatred" toward their faith. An attorney for Blackmore has said he intends to use Canada's legalization of same-sex marriage as a possible defense. British Columbia's attorney general has said the case will be the country's first true test of Canada's polygamy laws.

Blackmore was a bishop in the Utah-based FLDS Church until he was excommunicated in 2002. The fundamentalists who live in the polygamous colony of Bountiful split — with some following Blackmore and others remaining in the FLDS Church where Oler is a bishop.

E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com