Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun
Thursday, June 07, 2007Special prosecutor Richard Peck, a Vancouver criminal lawyer who has worked on some of B.C.'s most complex and highest profile cases, will also conduct the prosecution and any appeals if he decides charges are warranted.
Peck's clients have included an accused Air India bomber, child pornographer Robin John Sharpe and teacher Tom Ellison, who was convicted of sex crimes dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.
Attorney-General Wally Oppal said Wednesday that Peck will analyse the RCMP's evidence and recommend whether to lay criminal charges such as sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, polygamy or human trafficking, or any other quasi-judicial or regulatory charges such as violations of the Independent School Act.
Oppal expects Peck's review could be completed by the end of June.
Four senior Crown counsel have already reviewed the material and made a recommendation to Oppal. The attorney-general refused to say what that recommendation was.
Peck's hiring points out just how troublesome this file is for the government, which is under tremendous public pressure to uphold the anti-polygamy law as well as ensure underage girls aren't forced into plural marriages and children are receiving a good education in the community's two, publicly funded schools.
But that pressure is nothing compared to the potential firestorm if the government were to lose and if the Supreme Court were to conclude polygamy is protected under the religious freedom guarantees.
Fundamentalist Mormons have lived near Creston for more than 60 years. They split from the mainstream church over the belief men need multiple wives on Earth to enter the highest realm of heaven. Those marriages are determined by the prophet and to refuse his choice is to disobey God.
Since 1990, when the B.C. government decided not to prosecute polygamy because of concerns the law was unconstitutional, the fundamentalists have become more brazen.
One of the community's two leaders investigated by the RCMP, Winston Blackmore, has publicly admitted having multiple wives including several who were under the age of 18. Blackmore, who has an estimated 700 followers, has been married 26 times and has more than 100 children.
Jim Oler was also investigated by the RCMP. Oler is the Canadian bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which has close to 500 followers in the Creston area.
FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs is in a Utah jail awaiting trial in September on two counts of conspiracy to commit rape of a 14-year-old girl. Following that trial, Jeffs will go to court in Arizona charged with five counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual misconduct with a minor.
Peck must pass everything through two filters: Is there a substantial likelihood of winning? And secondly, is it in the public interest to prosecute?
In addition to B.C.'s earlier legal opinions, Peck will have four more recent ones commissioned by the federal government -- all but one of which concluded the law would be upheld.
Those opinions will have to be balanced against the public interest.
In an interview, Peck said he'll have to wrestle with whether the public's interest in having the law clarified by the courts is so great it should go ahead even if British Columbia could lose.
But there are more basic considerations. Is there good evidence and are there good witnesses?
During a conference call with journalists, Oppal noted two problems. If the Crown has birth records indicating a 15-year-old girl had a 50-year-old man's child, charges of sexual exploitation could only succeed if the girl were impregnated in British Columbia. If not, B.C. has no jurisdiction.
As for witnesses, Oppal admitted that's a problem. That's certainly the experience of prosecutors in Arizona and Utah where most of the 10,000 members of the FLDS live.
Earlier this year, a case fizzled when the witness who had testified before an Arizona grand jury that she was 16 when Jeffs forced her to marry a 33-year-old man, refused to give evidence at the trial.
She refused even she was charged with contempt and spent 30 days in a women's shelter.
In another case a few years ago, a child bride testified she had not been impregnated by her husband. She said she had done it herself using a turkey baster.
Oppal has made no secret that he wants Bountiful dealt with. His staff in the criminal justice branch has made little secret of their reluctance to do so. Peck's appointment resolves that conflict.
But as Jason Gratl, of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, pointed out, it does more than that. It insulates Oppal from criticism that this is a political prosecution. And it assures the public there is a legal basis for what could be a long and expensive prosecution.
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