LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 186

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opinion received from either the CCM or the CTCR.
(b) Such request for a final hearing shall be submitted
to the Secretary of the Synod with copies provided
supplied to the district president(s) of the accuser and
the accused, the chairman of the Hearing Panel, the
accuser, and the President of the Synod, and shall be
accompanied by a written memorandum stating the
basis for the request.
(a) Within 30 days after receipt of an appeal from the
accused, an Appeal Panel shall be selected by the Secretary of the Synod. The Appeal Panel shall be made
up of three district presidents who shall be trained
for such service.
(1) One district president shall be selected by the
accused, one by the ecclesiastical supervisor of the
accused, and the third by the two Appeal Panel
members so selected.
(2) If the two Appeal Panel members cannot agree
on a third panel member, the Secretary of the
Synod shall select the third member by blind draw
from the remaining eligible district presidents.
(b) The members of the Appeal Panel shall be provided with copies of the official record of the case,
including the full report of the reconciler, the Hearing
Panel minutes, the written decision and all documentary evidence considered by the Hearing Panel, and
the written memorandum stating the basis for the
appeal. The panel shall make its decision solely on
the basis of the materials received.
(c) The only decision to be made by the Appeal Panel
shall be whether to approve reconsideration of the
Hearing Panel decision. The panel shall not approve
a request for a new hearing on the basis of newly discovered evidence unless such evidence was clearly
not available to the Hearing Panel and was not the
fault of the party requesting the reopening of the case,
and unless it is clear that the absence of such evidence
resulted in a gross miscarriage of justice.
(d) The standards of review that shall define the
Appeal Panel’s considerations shall be limited to three
basic areas:
(1) Factual findings: The Appeal Panel shall
review factual findings of the Hearing Panel only
to determine if they are supported by evidence.
The Appeal Panel shall not ordinarily sit in judgment of the Hearing Panel’s conclusions regarding
evidence, since the Hearing Panel was in the best
position to judge factual issues. The Appeal Panel
must be convinced that a mistake has been committed, that is, that the evidence is such that
reasonable minds could not agree with the Hearing Panel’s decision.
(2) Conclusions on authority: The Appeal Panel
may approve an appeal if the Hearing Panel was
clearly outside its authority, e.g., a decision was
made that the panel had no authority to make
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2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

under the Constitution and Bylaws of the Synod,
or a decision was made on an issue not related
to the sole issue to be decided, or a decision was
made on a theological question that the panel had
no authority to make.
(3) Discretionary acts: The Appeal Panel may
approve an appeal if there was a clear abuse of
discretion impacting the decision of the Hearing
Panel, resulting in a gross miscarriage of justice,
or that involves an obvious and inappropriate bias
or prejudice.
(de) If the Appeal Panel denies the request for reconsideration of the decision of the Hearing Panel and
upholds the suspension of the ecclesiastical supervisor, the decision of the Hearing Panel shall be
regarded as final and shall
(1) be binding upon the parties and not be subject
to further appeal;
(2) have no precedential value;
(3) be carried out by the district president or the
President of the Synod; and
(4) shall be publicized as deemed appropriate
under the circumstances by the district president
or the President of the Synod.
(ef) If the Appeal Panel grants the request for reconsideration of the decision of the Hearing Panel, a
Final Hearing Panel shall be selected by the Secretary of the Synod.
Final Hearing Panel
2.14.98.1 Within 30 days after the receipt of the decision of the
Appeal Panel granting the request for reconsideration of the decision of the Hearing Panelthe request,
a Final Hearing Panel shall be selected.
(a) The panel shall be constituted in the same prescribed
manner as described in Bylaws 2.14.7.2–2.14.7.6, except
that the two district presidents, the reconciler, the hearing facilitator that provided assistance to the Hearing
Panel, and the involved district presidents are omitted
from consideration for the Final Hearing Panel.
(b) The procedures for the final hearing shall be the
same as prescribed in Bylaws 2.14.7.6–2.14.7.8.
(c) The chairman of the Hearing Panel shall provide
the Final Hearing Panel with a written statement of
the matter and the Hearing Panel’s report, minutes,
records, and proceedings.
2.14.9.18.2 Upon completion of the hearing by the Final Hearing
Panel… [same as current wording of 2.14.8.2]
[Current Bylaws 2.14.9–2.14.9.3 will be renumbered 2.14.10–
2.14.10.3.]

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