And in February, after an emotional public hearing attended by more than a thousand people, Mr. Pearlman and his two fellow commissioners said no.

The recommendation culminated an emotional hearing held under heavy security that was attended daily by about 150 largely black supporters of Mr. Brandley.

During the emotional hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, both sides in the abortion debate pulled out all political stops.

The woman, Nicole Bridget Smigiel, argued in an emotional hearing that the boy, Mitchell, had never been legally adopted.

For most of the afternoon on Tuesday, the long, emotional hearing resembled more of an encounter group than a legislative session.

The proposal, adopted after an emotional public hearing at the Pine Brook School where residents expressed more anger than enthusiasm, would begin in September.

The City Council held a full day of often emotional hearings on a bill that would effectively ban smoking in virtually all public places.

But he recalled a series of emotional hearings that Mr. Conyers held in 1983 on allegations of police brutality.

At an emotional hearing in Superior Court here earlier this month, a judge sentenced him to 18 years in state prison.

The sentences were imposed at an emotional hearing marked by the muffled sobbing of some teachers and the occasional babbling of infants.