WolfishMusings – These cases are just speculation amongst the posters what Bais Din would have done or not done. Obviously we REALLY have no clue how they actually operated.
“However, he expressed his frustration that since (a) he didn’t actually witness the murder and (b) there were no other witnesses, he could not have the person face the justice he deserved. At that point, a snake came along and bit the murderer, killing him.”
You have no proof from this Gemorroh one way or another. Acc. to Tosphos the Gemorrah says that the next part is a Rayah to what he was saying that he wanted to teach us there are other ways to kill a Rotzeach even in the time of the Bais Hamikdash. So he said I can’t kill him in Bais Din, but Hashem will kill him. How do you know if he wasn’t teaching us about that Hashem has other ways of taking care of business that he wouldn’t have taken the guy to Bais Din and killed him with the Kipa?