Dammann Trial Verdict
(Saturday, March 20, 2004)
*BOTHELL, Wash. — After deliberating for a day and a half, the 13-member jury of Pacific Northwest Conference clergy members found their colleague, the Rev. Karen T. Dammann, not guilty of the charge of “practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings.”
*The verdict came in at around 3:40 p.m. Pacific time.
The jury chairperson, the Rev. Judy Schultz, delivered the verdict. “While sustaining the specification that Rev. Karen Dammann is a self-avowed practicing homosexual, we, the trial court, do not find the evidence presented … to be clear and convincing that Karen Dammann has engaged in any ‘practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings,’” she said. “We cannot sustain the charge.”
Of the 13-member jury, 11 voted not guilty and two were undecided. No jurors voted for a guilty verdict. A majority of nine was necessary to render a verdict, according to the denomination’s Book of Discipline.
As the verdict was read, Dammann quietly bowed her head. Her partner/spouse, Meredith Savage, placed her arm around Karen’s shoulders. An audible sigh rippled around the courtroom, but no verbal reactions were heard.
After first leading a prayer, presiding Bishop William Grove had asked those present “to receive quietly … the report of the work of the court.”
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Finally, Grove announced a special worship service would be held in the sanctuary.
The trial, which began March 17, was held in the fellowship hall of Bothell United Methodist Church. The charge against Dammann resulted from a disclosure she made to her bishop in 2001 that she was living in a “partnered, covenanted, homosexual relationship.” The denomination’s law book states that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” shall not be ordained or appointed in the United Methodist Church.
Under United Methodist law, a respondent – or defendant — has the right to appeal the outcome of a clergy trial, but the church does not.*