Texas Ranger details seized marriage records in Cranbrook polygamy trial

James Oler is facing trial alongside Blackmore for allegedly having four wives.

The pair, who served as bishops in Canada for the Utah-based FLDS church, have each been charged with one count of polygamy.

Hanna told the courtroom about the “Yearning for Zion” ranch, a guarded community with watch towers, they raided roughly seven years ago.

He explained the size and strength of a sophisticated underground vault they had to break into to obtain the evidence.

The Texas Ranger is one of several witnesses expected to be called over the next two weeks as the Crown tries to prove the defendants were prominent members of the Bounitful community who participated in multiple marriages.

The judge-alone trial is also expected to include testimony from Blackmore’s first wife, who is also Oler’s sister.

Earlier in the day, an expert in the history of the Mormon church testified that fundamentalists who practise polygamy would have to leave all but one of their wives if they wanted to join the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints.

Brian Hales has written several books on polygamy and Mormonism and told the trial that a former polygamist could remain friends with his previous wives but could no longer live with or have sexual relations with them.

by Josh Hoffman with files from The Canadian Press

Texas Ranger details seized marriage records in Cranbrook polygamy trial

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