Remember that all this was happening at night. There was a first a trial before the religious leaders, but they were under Roman authority. So in order to "get a result" they needed then to go to the Roman authorities for a second trial.
Jesus was taken before the high priest, Caiaphas, and Peter followed at a distance.
The priests wanted an excuse to have Jesus put to death. One wonders why they thought this would work, or was necessary. If Jesus was just a charlatan, then why worry about Him so much. If He was indeed the Son of God, then their actions were so clearly stupid and wrong.There are probably two factors at work: (i) they feared Him causing trouble with the Roman authorities, which could then threaten their nice accommodation with the Romans; (ii) the deceptiveness that sin always brings.
They tried their best to find evidence against Jesus, but failed, despite the "help" of many false witnesses (directly against the Law, by the way).
Then they got people who misquoted Jesus' words on the temple being destroyed. The priests demanded a reply from Jesus, but got none. The truth of the matter is that it was not really Jesus who was on trial, but all of mankind.
Then they bring the direct charge that He was claiming to be the Son of God. Jesus says that this is so, combining verses from Psalm 110:1, and Daniel 7:3.
This outraged the priests. However, this was possibly partly put on, for they would have been glad that they now had their justification for killing Him. For Jesus had equated Himself with God. So they they strike, mock and spit upon Jesus. This is no way for a court of law to act.
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