Blackmore wants province to pay legal costs
Admitted polygamist Winston Blackmore, now finally on trial for polygamy, wants the British Columbia government—i.e., taxpayers—to finance his legal costs.
The polygamy trial will be adjourned while the court conducts a very interesting examination of Mr Blackmore’s personal finances. The Vancouver Sun’s Daphne Bramham reports:
Blackmore will have to present considerable evidence about his financial circumstances before a judge will agree to legal funding.
It should provide a fascinating inside view of how a man like Blackmore is able — or not — to support 20 or more wives and the 119 children he has fathered.
It should also provide some explanation of how Blackmore went from being one of the richest men in the Creston Valley to a man without means following his ex-communication.
The financial demise of his privately held companies that were involved in logging, milling, trucking, ranching and farming appears to have tracked his fall from grace in the church.
Meanwhile, Blackmore’s co-defendant James Oler will be allowed to travel to Utah during the adjournment.
He has to post a cash deposit of $40,000, which will be returned when he again surrenders his passport April 28th.
For $40,000, Mr Oler might decide he’d rather remain a free man south of the border.