This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Cranbrook, British Columbia • A date has been set for a verdict in the trial of two British Columbia men accused of polygamy.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge will issue her ruling July 24 in the trial of Winston Blackmore and James Oler, who are both former bishops with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Both men were at one time leaders of separate breakaway Mormon sects in the isolated community of Bountiful in southeastern British Columbia.

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in Utah, officially renounced polygamy in the late 19th century and disputes the fundamentalist group's connection to Mormonism.

Blackmore is accused of having two dozen wives, while Oler is alleged to have married five women.