Section II · Chapter 2. Instituting Judicial Process

The signers of the charge shall be responsible for prosecuting the case. If the court judges the alleged offense censurable, and the proposed evidence sufficient to warrant a trial, and is satisfied that Christ’s rule (Matt. 18:15-16) has been followed, it shall put the charge or charges with these details into the form of a written accusation (Suggested Form 22).* It is also signed by the moderator and clerk of the issuing court.

At the meeting in which the accusation is issued no further steps shall be taken, except to fix the time and place of the trial and to summon all who are concerned to appear. There shall be no unnecessary delay in hearing a case, but both parties shall have sufficient time for preparation. At least ten days shall pass between the issuing of the accusation and the date of the trial, except by consent of all concerned. If additional witnesses or new evidence are discovered, the accused shall be informed and further time given him or her to prepare a defense.

An official copy of the accusation shall be placed in the hands of the accused, left at his residence, or delivered by certified mail, accompanied by a summons, signed by the moderator and clerk, to appear and answer to the accusation. If the first summons is not obeyed, the court shall issue another, allowing such extension of time as it deems proper, and serving notice that if the individual does not appear it will proceed in his absence. Even though the accused declares that he or she will not obey the first summons, the court shall issue a second summons. (See Suggested Form 23.)

The summons may be served by any person appointed by the court, who shall certify to the court that he has performed his duty, or it may be sent by certified mail. If the accused does not reply, the court shall proceed to try the case in his absence.

The clerk of the court shall issue a summons to appear to each of the witnesses named by either the prosecutor or the accused. Only members of the church can be summoned to appear, and these only by the court to which they are subject.* Other persons may be requested to appear. Members who do not obey summonses to appear are liable to censure for contempt of court. (See Suggested Form 24.)

A church court is obliged to afford the accused every opportunity to protect his or her good name, and under all circumstances to preserve the right of each individual accused to be able to cross-examine witnesses and to respond to the accuser or special prosecutor, preferably in-person. If appearing in-person is not reasonably feasible, the use of technologies such as videoconferencing for cross-examination and for responding to the accuser or prosecutor may be permitted. In these circumstances, the court should consider that the accused was not in the physical presence of the accuser or prosecutor

If appearing in-person is not reasonably feasible the trial court may instead arrange for such witnesses to join the trial via technologies such as videoconferencing and give testimony. In either case, when determining the value of such testimony, the court should consider that the witnesses were not in the physical presence of the accused, and in the case of a certified copy, that no one had opportunity for cross-examination

In cases when it is not reasonably feasible for all parties of a trial to be physically present in the same location, the trial court should give careful consideration to how severely a lack of physical presence would affect the trial proceedings. The court should exercise pastoral care in allowing alternate arrangements (e.g., videoconferencing) and seek to arrange a process that is as fair and agreeable to both the accused and the accuser as possible. If alternate arrangements are allowed, the trial court should also provide direction on how best to limit any detrimental effect on the arrangements.

The court may require the accused to refrain from the exercise of communicant privileges, or from the exercise of office, or from both, until final action in the case has been taken, provided there is no unnecessary delay in its prosecution.