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CRANBROOK, British Columbia (AP) — A lawyer whose client is on trial for polygamy in Canada is arguing that evidence in the case was collected amid confusion over the legality of the country's laws on plural marriage.
Attorney Blair Suffredine is asking a judge to lift a polygamy charge against Winston Blackmore.
Blackmore and James Oler each face one count of polygamy. Both men have served as bishops for the religious settlement of Bountiful, British Columbia, which follows the teachings of a Mormon offshoot sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints.
Blackmore is accused of marrying 24 women.
Suffredine said in court Monday that evidence against Blackmore was collected from 1990 to 2011, a period when the constitutionality of Canada's laws prohibiting polygamy was unclear. The law was upheld in 2011.
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