The Trial Before Festus

"Some days later King Agrippa and his sister Bernice arrived in Caesarea to greet Festus.  As they were to stay there several days, Festus told the king about Paul's case and said to him,

'We have here a man whom Felix left as a prisoner.  When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews accused him and asked me to sentence him.  I told them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over a man without giving him an opportunity to defend himself in front of his accusers.  So, they came, and I took my seat without delay on the tribunal and sent for the man.

When the accusers had the floor, they did not accuse him of any of the crimes that I was led to think he had committed; instead, they quarreled with him about religion and about a certain JESUS who has died but whom Paul asserted to be alive.  I did not know what to do about this case, so I asked Paul if he wanted to go to Jerusalem to be tried there.  But Paul appealed to be judged by the emperor.  So, I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar'." - Acts 25:13-21  

(Due process.   It is not the custom of the Romans to hand over a man without giving him an opportunity to defend himself in front of his accusers.)

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