Sanhedrin 5:3-4

Sanhedrin 5:3

If one witness says the crime occurred on the second day of the month and the other says that it occurred on the third, their testimony stands because we assume that one witness was aware of the intercalation of the month (i.e., that an extra day was added) and the other was not aware. If one witness says the crime occurred on the third and the other says it occurred on the fifth, then their testimony is discarded. If one witness says the crime occurred in the second hour of the day and the other says it occurred in the third hour, their testimony stands but if one says it occurred in the third hour and the other says it occurred in the fifth, their testimony is discarded; Rabbi Yehuda says that their testimony stands. If one witness says the crime occurred in the fifth hour and the other says it occurred in the seventh hour (i.e., on opposite sides of noon), their testimony is discarded because in the fifth hour the sun is in the east and in the seventh hour, it is in the west.

Sanhedrin 5:4

After examining the first witness, they bring in the second witness and examine him. If their testimonies correspond, the judges begin deliberations with arguments for acquittal. If one of the witnesses offers to argue for acquittal, or if one of the students in the gallery offers to argue for conviction, they are silenced. If one of the students in the gallery offers to argue for acquittal, they bring him up and seat him among the judges; he does not go back down to the gallery for the whole rest of that day. If his words are substantive, they listen to him (and he remains among the judges for the duration of the case). Even if the defendant says that he can argue for his own acquittal, they listen to him so long as his words are substantive.