The Roman commander orders a meeting of the Sanhedrin so they can explain to him what Paul has done. The Roman commander probably knows that the issue involves Jewish law and has nothing to do with Roman law.
The Roman commander probably does not care what Paul did, but given that a near riot broke out, he must tread carefully.
An outstanding issue is whether this convening the Sanhedrin would constitute a "trial" that a Roman citizen would be entitled to. What if the Sanhedrin declared that Paul should die, but under exclusively Jewish law and irrelevant to Roman concerns? Would the Roman commander allow that?
Ananias is still head priest at the temple.
Paul notices that the Sanhedrin is still divided among Pharisees and Sadduccees. So, Paul states that he is on trial for his belief in the resurrection. This is very clever and it causes another riot to break out. Paul might be killed when the Romans rescue him and take him back to their stronghold.
Two important things happen at the stronghold. First, Paul gets an appearance by Jesus who tells him that he must go to Rome as well. This might seem relatively innocuous, but my personal conjecture is that it is setting in motion the legacy of the church leadership to eventually coincide with the political leadership of the Roman empire. It also establishes what later becomes known as the "papacy", but really, the church will need future generations of leaders and this sets it in motion.
The other thing is that Paul's sister uncovers a plot by the Jewish leaders to kill Paul. Forty of them have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed Paul. This plot is relayed to Paul by his nephew who relays it to the Roman commander.
If would have been very bad for the commander to allow a Jewish mob to lynch a prisoner who is also a Roman citizen before the prisoner had a proper trial. The Roman commander then orders a large escort to take Paul to Caesarea and to go before Felix, the Roman Governor.
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