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PCA V. Leithart INDEX PRELIMINARY REMARKS

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PCA V. Leithart INDEX PRELIMINARY REMARKS 1 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 2 June 3 - 4, 2011 3 (Transcribed from an audio recording) 4 PCA v. Leithart 5 I N D E X 6 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ................................................................................................................................ 3 7 OPENING STATEMENTS 8 Prosecution .......................................................................................................................................... 16 9 Defense .................................................................................................................................................. 27 10 PROSECUTION WITNESSES: 11 Dr. Michael Horton 12 Direct Examination ............................................................................................................. 41 13 Cross-Examination .............................................................................................................. 77 14 Redirect ................................................................................................................................... 86 15 Questions by Commissioners .......................................................................................... 90 16 Rev. Lane Keister 17 Direct Examination ........................................................................................................... 108 18 Cross-Examination ............................................................................................................ 117 19 Redirect ................................................................................................................................. 135 20 Questions by Commissioners ........................................................................................ 139 21 DEFENSE WITNESSES: 22 Dr. Peter Leithart 23 Direct Examination ........................................................................................................... 152 PCA v. Leithart - Trial Transcript - Page 2 1 Cross-Examination ............................................................................................................ 182 2 Redirect ................................................................................................................................. 214 3 Questions by Commissioners ........................................................................................ 216 4 Dr. William Barker 5 Direct Examination ........................................................................................................... 262 6 Cross-Examination ............................................................................................................ 281 7 Redirect ................................................................................................................................. 293 8 Questions by Commissioners ........................................................................................ 296 9 Dr. C. John Collins 10 Direct Examination ........................................................................................................... 304 11 Cross-Examination ............................................................................................................ 325 12 Redirect ................................................................................................................................. 346 13 Dr. Robert Letham 14 Direct Examination ........................................................................................................... 348 15 Cross-Examination ............................................................................................................ 367 16 Redirect ................................................................................................................................. 380 17 CLOSING STATEMENTS 18 Prosecution ........................................................................................................................................ 382 19 Defense ................................................................................................................................................ 398 20 21 22 23 PCA v. Leithart - Trial Transcript - Page 3 1 PRELIMINARY REMARKS 2 MODERATOR: Mike, did you want to just make a few kind of housekeeping 3 comments at this point? 4 MIKE: A few comments regarding our facilities. First of all, welcome. 5 There’s bathroom downstairs to the - - follow the downstairs and turn to right at the 6 bottom. There’s also another one essentially under, under us if you need that. So that to 7 remind you, the budget that the Presbytery allowed for this, really provides for 8 refreshments for the members of the Court and not the members of the Presbytery. So you 9 can take that up with yourselves since you voted that. And - - or the number anyway. And 10 then when you go downstairs, there’s also refreshments. We will be providing lunch for 11 the witnesses, the prosecution, the defense, the defendant, and of course, the 12 commissioners. And you’d be on your own for that. I think that’s all we have. You’ll notice 13 some non-presbyters here. They’ll be allowed in a minute in order to provide support and 14 we’re thankful very much for their help. 15 MODERATOR: Very good. Alright. I have asked if - - Pastor Ron Gonzales will 16 open us with some prayer. 17 GONZALES: Psalm 133 says: Behold, how good and pleasant it is when 18 brothers dwell in unity. It’s like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on 19 the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, 20 which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life 21 forever more. Let’s pray. Father, it is good when brothers dwell in unity. And we long to 22 do that even as we meet today and tomorrow to seek your will in the matter before us. 23 Lord, we pray that throughout these proceedings our concern would be both for the peace PCA v. Leithart - Trial Transcript - Page 4 1 and the purity of the church and though the testimony we will hear and the arguments 2 made on both sides tend toward the purity of the church. I pray that we would all, and 3 particularly the members of the court, would be concerned with the peace of the church as 4 well. We pray that our actions here and the deliberations that will follow will be concerned 5 with Your Honor and Your Glory and that we would want only what you want in this 6 regard. Give us wisdom, Oh Lord, as we look to you, as we depend upon you. You are the 7 King of this church. You are our Lord. And so we, in every way, want to defer to you and to 8 the wisdom that you would give. Help us, oh Lord. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. 9 (Amen) 10 MODERATOR: Let’s make a few introductions. I’ll do so for the 11 commissioners. I think we probably all are known to one another. But for the record 12 (inaudible) wanted me do that. Of course, TE Ron Gonzales, who is actually the Chair of 13 the Standing Judicial Commission of the Presbytery. Myself, I’ll be the moderator of the 14 trial, Steve O’Ban. Eric -- Eric T. Costa is our secretary. Brian Sunderland, a Ruling Elder. 15 Teaching Elder, Brad Chaney. Teaching Elder, Mike Kelly. Teaching Elder, Eddie Koh. Ruling 16 Elder, Mike Pfefferle. And, Ruling Elder, Dirk Carlson, who is our time keeper. Those are 17 our commissioners. Now, let me ask that counsel would you please introduce yourself into 18 the record. And though it’s probably obvious, we’ve got microphones at each table. We’ll 19 be recording everything said here, we hope accurately and completely, through the next 20 two days. So, be aware of that and if you need to say something in confidence you might 21 want to cover the microphone because I - - they’re pretty good microphones, they’re going 22 to pick up pretty much everything that is said. So, for the record, let’s start with the 23 prosecution. PCA v. Leithart - Trial Transcript - Page 5 1 PROSECUTION: Teaching Elder, Jason Stellman, Exile Presbyterian Church. 2 MODERATOR: Alright, and at the defense table. 3 DEFENSE: Rob Rayburn, Pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church. 4 Howie Donahoe, Ruling Elder of Grace Seattle. 5 Peter Leithart, Teaching Elder, (inaudible). 6 MODERATOR: Alright. Let me - - I have a few comments I want to make for 7 the record to the participants and then also to those who are attending here. Remind you 8 that we are in executive session. This is a ruling made by the Presbytery when the rules 9 were established for this trial. That means that you may not share anything or disseminate 10 anything in any fashion. No emails, no blogs, no interviews for publications or bloggers and 11 certainly no digital or tape recordings may be made by attendees. The Pacific Northwest 12 Presbytery has taken a position that confidentiality is essential to assure a full and candid 13 presentation of the important matters raised by the allegations of the complaint and the 14 answer. And thus, the parties must have the confidence that all statements shared at trial 15 will not be circulated beyond the attendees and participants until Presbytery acts on the 16 Commission’s final judgment. Those of you who are here, you should fall into two 17 categories. You are either a member of Presbytery, this Presbytery, Pacific Northwest 18 Presbytery, or you’ve been granted express permission by myself, as moderator, to attend 19 this trial. Also, you needed to sign an agreement that you should have found in the narthex 20 by which you’ll be bound to the, basically the confidentiality that I’ve just described.
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