Hearing

A hearing shall not be conducted with fewer than nine (9) members of the Commission in attendance. The Chairperson or the Chairperson's designee shall preside. A person designated by the Commission shall present the case in support of the charges contained in the notice. The respondent shall attend the public hearing without the necessity of a subpoena being served upon him or her; Page 6 of 11 February 2024 and, if he or she is called as a witness by the Commission at the public hearing, he or she shall take the witness stand and shall testify in the same manner as if under subpoena. The hearing may proceed whether or not the respondent has filed an answer or appears. The hearing shall be recorded by electronic or other verbatim means and oral testimony shall be taken on oath or affirmation, administered by the presiding member. The hearing shall be public except as otherwise provided in these rules. Judicial proceedings in aid of or ancillary to a public hearing or the Commission shall be open to the public, and all papers filed in connection with such judicial proceedings shall be public documents. The Commission shall have the same authority to exclude temporarily all spectators from the public hearing as is possessed by justices of the Superior Court in criminal cases. The Chairperson or presiding member shall have the same discretion to admit or exclude “media” as defined in Article VII of the Supreme Court Rules as is conferred by said Article upon a trial justice.