OU TARYAG MITZVOS MITZVA 76. A Majority of One: The prohibition against imposing capital punishment without a supermajority

(TODAYS MITZVA SHOULD BE LEARNED FOR THE SAFE RETURN OF Shlomo ben Kayla)
This verse is understood as “don’t follow a simple majority to impose the death penalty.” A beis din (court) and the Sanhedrin always have an odd number of members – 3, 23 or 71 – so that there can never be a “hung jury.” It is possible, however, for there to be a simple majority – two judges vs. one judge, 12 judges vs. 11, or 36 vs. 35. When a local Sanhedrin tried a capital case, the simple majority of 12 to 11 was not sufficient to execute a defendant. The vote had to be at least 13 to 10.