Last point, and this is fundamental. Is Louisiana on trial for “failure to indict” or “failure to convict”? If the former, then if the SJC finds her guilty, then the requirement should then be to ensure that formal charges are brought against Steve at presbytery, a trial held, and then, as necessary, appealed. Or, as an alternative, the SJC could assume original jurisdiction, and hold a trial for Steve, starting from scratch, with Steve being given the presumption of innocence in that trial. The problem with this second option is seen in the manifest injustice of how the national leaders of the PCA stacked the study committee — as stacked as Dolly Parton after her new implants. If the SJC is stacked similarly, then Steve will just escorted through the motions of a trial, and in the aftermath, there would be no appeal.
Douglas Wilson