Well, it looks like the OP lacks some important details. Let's fix it.
¶2 Williams and her family attended the Roy Congregation
of Jehovah’s Witnesses.<1> In the summer of 2007, Williams met
another Jehovah’s Witnesses congregant (“Church Member”).
Williams and Church Member began seeing each other socially,
but the relationship quickly changed and throughout the rest of
the year Church Member physically and sexually assaulted
Williams, who was a minor.
¶3 In early 2008 the Church began investigating Williams
to determine whether she engaged in “porneia,” a serious
sin defined by Jehovah’s Witnesses as “[u]nclean sexual
conduct that is contrary to ‘normal’ behavior.” Porneia
includes “sexual conduct between individuals who are not
married to each other.” The Church convened a “judicial
committee” to “determine if [Williams] had in fact engaged in
porneia and if so, if was she sufficiently repentant for doing so.”
A group of three elders (the Elders)<2> presided over the judicial
committee. Williams voluntarily attended the judicial committee
with her mother and step-father. The Elders questioned Williams
for forty-five minutes regarding her sexual conduct with Church
Member.<3>
¶4 After questioning Williams about her sexual conduct, the
Elders played an audio recording of Church Member raping
Williams. Church Member recorded this incident and gave it to
the Elders during their investigation of Williams. The recording
was “several hours” in length. Williams cried and protested as
the Elders replayed the recording. The Elders played the
recording for “four to five hours” stopping and starting it to ask
Williams whether she consented to the sexual acts. During the
meeting Williams was “crying and physically quivering.”
Williams conceded she was able to leave but risked being
disfellowshipped if she did.<4>
<1>. “Because this is an appeal from a motion to dismiss under rule
12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, we review only the
facts alleged in the complaint.” Franco v. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2001 UT 25, ¶ 2, 21 P.3d 198 (quotation
simplified).
<2>. Elders are leaders of local congregations and are responsible
for the daily operations and governance of their congregations.
<3>. Williams alleged in her complaint that although church policy
requires elders to conduct judicial committees to investigate claims of sexual abuse, the Church does not train them on how
to interview children who are victims of sexual abuse.
<4>. Disfellowship is expulsion from the congregation. When
someone is disfellowshipped, an announcement is made to the
congregation that the member is no longer a member of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, but no details are given regarding the
nature of the perceived wrongdoing.
