It wasn’t exactly divine retribution, unless you consider the Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee divine. But it was perhaps a tacit admission that things had begun to get a little out of hand.

On Monday, Terry Davis, the Montgomery attorney who chairs the five-member panel hearing LaTosha Brown’s contest of the June 25 Democratic primary runoff, vacated the order authorizing the service of a subpoena for the deposition of the Rev. Dr. Cecil Williamson, pastor at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church. Davis further ordered that Williamson could not be deposed in the case.

The order comes in response to a formal objection from Harold Mott, a deacon at Crescent Hill. Mott objected to an attempt by Sam Walker to serve Williamson with a subpoena shortly before the start of the July 21 6 p.m. worship service at the church.

Williamson is one of at least 150 Selma residents for whom subpoenas have been issued in the case. Walker is one of several process servers appointed to deliver those subpoenas.

Mott had earlier said that when Walker entered the church he was told he was welcome to worship, but that he would have to leave if he had “a legal agenda.” He said Walker left without incident — and without serving the subpoena.

In a letter to the editor in Tuesday’s Times-Journal, Walker wrote, “I testified under oath that I had attempted to serve (Williamson) at his home four or five times, but he refused to come to the door. I entered his church only when no activity or service was in progress.”

In his order Monday, Davis stated, “The testimony of the process server establishes that after two unsuccessful attempts to serve Reverend Williamson at his home, a third attempt was made to serve him at his church. The clear import of the process server’s testimony regarding the third attempt was that Reverend Williamson was at the church and actively avoiding service. There was absolutely no indication from the testimony that a worship service was underway or about to begin. This was an important material fact omitted from the testimony of the process server. The process server did not use proper judgment in entering the church….

“The chairman finds that there are indeed no circumstances which would warrant the interruption of a worship service to serve a subpoena in an election contest.”

Contacted about the order, Williamson said, “I think it was unconscionable that Sam Walker would come and interrupt our worship service. It took it into a moral realm. This order reaffirms that, in an election contest at least, subpoenas do not need to be served at a worship service.”

Davis further stated in his order that he would not decertify any process servers at this time.

“However,” Davis wrote, “counsel are all directed to instruct anyone who is appointed as a process server in procedures for service of subpoenas and the appropriate settings in which subpoenas should be served.”

Brown lost the runoff by 138 votes to Yusuf Salaam. She is contesting the results, contending, among other things, that the loss is the result of a concerted Republican crossover effort. The panel headed by Davis is hearing the case.

The panel consists of members of the Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee. For the purposes of this hearing, state law invests the panel with the quasi-judicial powers to issue subpoenas.

Davis’ order does not bar Brown’s attorneys from subpoenaing Williamson to testify in the hearing, although it is uncertain if they will.

Said Williamson, “I am a Republican and this is a Democratic matter, and I would prefer not to be involved in it at all.”