"You shall not respond concerning a lawsuit to follow"—Exodus 23:2.
A judge is forbidden to rely upon the reasoning presented by a fellow judge, to convict or acquit a defendant, without himself examining and analyzing the issue based on the case's foundations. He may not say, "I'm satisfied to simply agree with the opinion of the other great judge." Rather, each judge must state the opinion that he independently arrived at.
Another few laws are included in this mitzvah (all derived from the same words of the verse) [all these rules apply in capital cases only]:
- One who originally argued in favor of the defendant may not afterwards argue to incriminate [though he may personally change his mind and vote to convict].
- When hearing a capital case, the judges must open the proceedings with words in defense of the defendant.
- If exculpatory evidence is found after a guilty verdict has been handed down, the verdict is discarded, and the court reconvenes to consider the new evidence. The inverse is not true—once a person is vindicated, he cannot be retried.
- When the time comes for the judges to state their arguments [for or against the defendant], we do not start with the greatest of the judges [lest the others be influenced by his opinion].
