CRANBROOK, B.C. – Two men who took multiple wives – some as young as 15 – will serve no time in jail after a B.C. Supreme Court judge gave them conditional sentences on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Winston Blackmore, 61, and 54-year-old James Oler are part of a breakaway Mormon sect and became the first Canadians in more than a century to be found guilty of polygamy last year.<\/p>\n
Justice Sheri Ann Donegan handed a sentence of six months to Blackmore and three months to Oler. Both men are to serve their terms under house arrest, with exceptions for work, necessary errands and medical emergencies.<\/p>\n
Blackmore has also been ordered to perform 150 hours of community service work, while Oler must do 75 hours. Both will also have 12 months of probation.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetermining a proportionate sentence is a delicate task,\u201d Donegan said as she delivered her decision in a Cranbrook, B.C., courtroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cSentences that are too lenient and sentences that are too harsh can undermine public confidence in the administration of justice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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The 36-seat courtroom gallery was full of many of Blackmore relatives, who cried and embraced after Donegan announced the sentence.<\/p>\n
The court heard Blackmore married his first wife, ex-Bountiful member Jane Blackmore, in 1975 and went on to marry 24 more women in so-called celestial marriages. Nine wives were under the age of 18, and four were 15 at the time they were married, Donegan noted in her decision.<\/p>\n
Oler had five wives, Donegan said. One was 15, and another had just turned 17 at the time of their marriages.<\/p>\n
Blackmore and Oler were both raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which practises plural marriage.<\/p>\n
They led rival factions in 2002 following a schism in the small religious community of Bountiful in southeastern British Columbia.<\/p>\n
Oler was excommunicated from the church around 2012 and now lives in Alberta, and Donegan noted it’s not clear whether he wishes to return.<\/p>\n