Pair found guilty in child-bride case

CRANBROOK (CP) — Two people linked to the polygamous community of Bountiful could have foreseen that their actions would lead to a girl having sex with the church’s prophet well before her 14th birthday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge said as he convicted the pair Friday.

Justice Paul Pearlman found estranged husband and wife Brandon Blackmore and Gail Blackmore guilty of the charge of taking a girl across the border for a sexual purpose in 2004.

He found James Oler not guilty of the same charge, saying the prosecution didn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the man crossed the border with a 15-year-old girl who was later married to another member of the polygamous church. Oler was a onetime leader in Bountiful. The Blackmores will be sentenced April 13. Gail Blackmore collapsed forward in her seat as Pearlman read his decision, while her estranged husband sat still and looked ahead.

“It was a thoughtful, thorough and detailed analysis of the issues before the court,” Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel with B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch, said outside court.

“The special prosecutor will be taking the time necessary over the next few weeks to review the decision in detail.”

The trial last year heard about the polygamous beliefs and practices in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The charges against the Blackmores centred on records that show the 13-year-old girl was married to Warren Jeffs, the church prophet now serving a life sentence in Texas. He was 48 years old when he married the girl.

Pearlman said in his ruling that he found Brandon Blackmore “acted on the prophet’s direction” by bringing the 13-year-old across the border, and he was satisfied Blackmore would have known the girl would have sexual contact with Jeffs “in short order” before her 14th birthday.

Alternative theories raised by the defence are “not reasonable,” he said.