Reply To: Halachic Penalty for Attempted Murder

Maybe the case of Shimon ben Shetach was that there wasn’t even circumstantial evidence, but somehow he knew this guy was a murderer.

He most certainly did have circumstantial evidence. He had very compelling circumstantial evidence.

He saw a person chase another person into an alley. When he got to the alley, he saw the chaser standing over the pursued with a bloody knife in his hand. He expressed his frustration that even though he knew the guy was a murderer, he could not punish him because he did not witness the actual murder — even though it was very clear what happened.

The Wolf