VANCOUVER, B.C. (CN) - A leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who allegedly has 19 wives and 101 children wants an investigation called off. Winston Kaye Blackmore claims that two special prosecutors have declined to prosecute him, and a third investigation should be quashed.
Blackmore asked the British Columbia Supreme Court to toss the charges. He says the province's attorney general appointed a special prosecutor to review evidence after two other special prosecutors refused to prosecute.
Blackmore and his sect live in the small British Columbia community of Bountiful, just north of the Idaho border with Idaho. Blackmore claims that a special prosecutor's decision is "final" under provincial law, and can be appealed only by a law enforcement officer, which did not happen.
The British Columbia government and police agencies have agonized over the polygamist community for years, since several legal scholars claim that Canada's laws against polygamy may conflict with religious freedom guarantees in the country's constitution.
Blackmore is represented by Joseph Arvay.
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