CRANBROOK, B.C. — An impartial adviser at the trial of three people from a polygamous community in British Columbia says there’s no evidence to convict at least one of those charged.
Joe Doyle, who is acting as an adviser to the court, argued Wednesday there’s nothing that shows Gail Blackmore aided or abetted in the removal of a 13-year-old girl from Canada for a sexual purpose.
She and her estranged husband Brandon Blackmore are both alleged to have taken the teenage girl to the United States in 2004 to marry Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the polygamous sect who is now in prison.
“It cannot be said, ultimately, that Gail Blackmore did anything but passively acquiesce at best,” Doyle told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Doyle was appointed as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, because Gail Blackmore and co-accused James Oler have chosen to represent themselves. His role is not to act as legal counsel to the pair, but to assist the court and provide balance in the trial.
Oler faces the same charges as the Blackmores, but in connection to the marriage of a 15-year-old girl to another church member in the U.S. in June 2004.
Doyle said that while there is a record that Brandon Blackmore was instructed by Jeffs to bring the girl to the United States, there is no such information about Gail Blackmore.
“There’s not a hint (Jeffs) spoke to Gail Blackmore,” said Doyle.
He also highlighted inconsistencies in priesthood records kept by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He told Pearlman that while those records are admissible, they are not as reliable as the Crown contends.
He added there is no customs record that the 13-year-old actually crossed the border in the same vehicle as the Blackmores in February 2004 and raised doubts that officers at the border would overlook her presence.
All three accused are members of the religious sect in Bountiful, where some residents practise plural marriage.
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