Blackmore is accused of practicing "a form of polygamy" or "a kind of conjugal union" with 24 women between, October 12, 1990 and February 28, 2014, according to court documents; Oler faces the same charge involving four women between May 20, 1993 and January 7, 2009, the documents show. "He doesn't feel guilty", Suffredine said.
Suffredine argued the polygamy charges involve separate and different allegations. Both men have served as bishops for the religious settlement of Bountiful, British Columbia which follows the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints, often referred to as the FLDS.
Two members of Bountiful will be in Cranbrook Supreme Court to face polygamy charges on Tuesday as their trial gets underway in front of Justice Sheri Ann Donegan. Oler entered a not guilty plea.
Special prosecutor Peter Wilson told the court his case will reference marriage records and birth certificates seized from the church's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas. Hales was also queried about the importance of plural marriage, or polygamy, to the faith in the early days before mainstream church leadership banned the practice in 1904.
Blackmore and Oler are expected to argue that having multiple wives is their religious right, and brings them closer to God.
The legal battle dates back to the 1990s when investigations of the isolated religious sect were prompted by allegations that Bountiful residents were involved in multiple-wife marriages, described as "celestial marriages".
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Is it also not true that CBI had registered a case against Mallya in 2015? A case management hearing was scheduled for May 17. Since Mallya left the country, the government has been looking at steps to bring him back, he said.
A lack of clarity in Canada's polygamy laws protected Blackmore from prosecution following a 2009 arrest, but in 2011, the province of British Columbia's Supreme Court ruled that laws against polygamous relationships were constitutional and did not violate freedoms of religion.
At the start of the trial, the judge released her reasons for rejecting an application from Blackmore to be tried separately from Oler, saying a substantial overlap in evidence against the two men means it is in the public interest for them to be tried together. "Oler. A joint trial in these circumstances does not compromise the rights of either accused to that fair trial".
Last week, Blackmore applied to have the two trials separated into separate proceedings, however, that was denied by Justice Donegan on Thursday.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story.
Brandon James Blackmore and Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore were found guilty and are awaiting sentencing while Oler was acquitted, however, the acquittal is being appealed by crown counsel.
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