A Bountiful, B.C., woman who was to marry her to a fundamentalist church leader on Wednesday in Vancouver.
Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore鈥檚 lawyer told the three-judge panel at the BC Court of Appeal that she had not known why her daughter was being taken across the border in 2004, and so shouldn鈥檛 have been convicted.
Blackmore, along with husband Brandon James Blackmore, is part of a polygamous sect in Bountiful in southeastern B.C.
They were found guilty last year of removing their daughter from Canada under a criminal code subsection that the removal would facilitate sexual interference or sexual touching. Emily Blackmore was sentenced to seven months in jail, while her husband received a one-year term.
She was not present in court for her appeal on Wednesday.
Lawyer Greg DelBigio argued the lower court judge had made a 鈥渓eap of faith鈥� in assuming Blackmore both knew and helped her husband take their underage daughter over the border to marry her off.
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The daughter, whose name is covered under a publication ban, was eventually wed to Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in a March 2004 ceremony.
DelBigio acknowledged such a marriage was expected to lead to sexual relations with the underage girl.
But he said Blackmore would not have thought to question her husband when told they were going to the United States, as is custom in their fundamentalist community.
鈥淓vidence showed that there are distinct rules between husbands and wives within that community. It鈥檚 not a relationship that is based upon equality,鈥� DelBigio said.
鈥淓vidence shows that men dictate what will go on and women follow without question.鈥�
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Blackmore attending her daughter鈥檚 wedding was not enough proof to convict her, he added, as she needed to know about her husband鈥檚 plan, as well as aid and abet it, in Canada.
However, Crown argued: 鈥淪ubservience shouldn鈥檛 be equated with silence.鈥�
Lawyer Micah Rankin told the court neither the Blackmores鈥� fundamentalist sect, nor their own beliefs within the family, supported the notion that Brandon Blackmore would not tell his wife about plans to marry off their daughter.
Rankin pointed to prior testimony from the couple鈥檚 son that Brandon Blackmore held more egalitarian beliefs about men and women.
鈥淭here was some evidence that in this particular relationship between Emily Ruth Gail Blackmore and Brandon James Blackmore that things weren鈥檛 quite as hierarchical as things might appear to be,鈥� Rankin said.
He also pointed to Brandon Blackmore asking another of his daughters, a 16-year-old, if she wanted to get married.
Further, Rankin argued the speed with which the family departed for the U.S., following a phone call between the husband and Jeffs, meant that Emily Blackmore couldn鈥檛 help but understand the importance of the occasion.
鈥淭hey drop everything, they leave home on a 19-hour journey鈥� and they do so in a context that鈥檚 very auspicious in their religion,鈥� said Rankin.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like [the daughter] is being married to the Pope. More than the Pope. This was clearly a very significant event. [Jeffs] is the highest authority of God on Earth, in the view of the FLDS.鈥�
Much of DelBigio鈥檚 argument centered around the fact that even had Blackmore been in the car with her daughter and husband as they drove to Texas, that was not enough to prove both the intent and action necessary for the mother鈥檚 conviction.
But Rankin said that the broad language under which Blackmore was found guilty could encompass even standing by and not interfering, as well as aiding and abetting.
The section of the Criminal Code under which Blackmore was convicted prohibits 鈥渄oing anything鈥� to take a Canadian from the country in order to commit a crime against them. The crimes in this case are sexual offences against a child under 14 years old.
In addition, Rankin said that as a parent, Blackmore was held to a higher legal standard to protect her child.
鈥淸Emily Blackmore] could not just sit by if she knew that her husband were taking her 13-year-old daughter to be married to a man in his late 40s in the United States, and do nothing,鈥� said Rankin.
鈥淧arents can鈥檛 do that with their children. They can鈥檛 fail to take steps to protect them including against other parents.鈥�
The appeals court reserved judgement.
A special prosecutor鈥檚 appeal of the acquittal of James Oler, another Bountiful man who was cleared of unlawfully removing his daughter from Canada last fall, was set to begin Thursday.
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