Closing arguments to begin in trial for trio connected to B.C. polygamous sect

Cranbrook, B.C. – Closing arguments are scheduled to begin today in the trial of three people connected to a British Columbia polygamous community.

Brandon Blackmore, Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore and James Oler are charged with taking girls into the United States for a sexual purpose.

A court document says the two Blackmores are each accused of transporting a 13-year-old girl across the border to be married.

Priesthood records admitted into evidence show Warren Jeffs, the now imprisoned prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, married that girl in 2004.

Meanwhile, James Oler faces the same charge in connection to a 15-year-old who the records say was married to James Leroy Johnson in 2004.

Justice Paul Pearlman of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the priesthood records dictated by Jeffs and found in a secure vault on a church ranch are trustworthy and can be used in the criminal trial of the three people from Bountiful.