Not guilty pleas entered for two accused men in B.C. polygamy trial
CRANBROOK, B.C. — The leader of a fundamentalist sect that condones plural marriage stood silently in a British Columbia courtroom Tuesday, hands clasped in front of a pressed black suit, as a B.C. Supreme Court judge asked how he would plead to a charge of polygamy.
“The accused stands mute, my lady,” Winston Blackmore’s lawyer, Blair Suffredine, said after a moment of silence.
With that began the long-awaited trial of Blackmore and James Oler, who are each charged with one count of polygamy. Justice Sheri Donegan entered a not guilty plea on Blackmore’s behalf, while Oler, who is representing himself, pleaded not guilty.
Both men have served as bishops for the religious settlement of Bountiful in southeastern B.C., which follows the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, often referred to as the FLDS.