“First of all, sir, Jesus’ arrest was illegal according to your own laws. No formal criminal charges were ever brought before the Sanhedrin for the issuance of a warrant, so the arrest took place without one, and when Jesus was arrested he was not informed of his crime, the arrest took place at night, and it involved the treachery of another—all forbidden by your codes.”

Caiaphas opened his mouth as if to reply but apparently thought better of it and nodded for me to continue.

“You tried Jesus at night, and in your Mishnah it is written that a capital offense may be tried during the day but must be suspended at night. It also specifies that no case involving a man’s life can be tried on the day before the Sabbath, but Jesus was tried in the early hours of the day before the Sabbath. Next, you have a law that forbids a relation or a friend or an enemy of the accused to sit in judgment of him, and yet, according to your own words, many of those present on that night, including yourself, had plotted for weeks to destroy Jesus.”

I walked back to the spot where Jesus had stood and pointed to the floor in front of me.

“Witnesses?” I shouted, and my voice echoed in that stone cube. “According to your law it is written, ‘At the mouth of two witnesses, or three, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness, he shall not be put to death.’ By your own admission you had been unable to find two witnesses to agree on anything, and since the power of accusation is vested solely in witnesses you had no case at all!”

“But the man confessed—”

“His confession was of no use to you, and you know it! Your law says that no one can bring an accusation against himself, but if he does, it still cannot be used against him unless it is properly attested by two other witnesses. Furthermore, you were in violation of another law when you put your question to Jesus, for your code expressly forbids any question to a witness that would condemn him if he answered. Am I correct?”

I didn’t wait for an answer.

“You told me that when you asked the Sanhedrin for a verdict, after Jesus responded, they all cried, ‘For death!’ A majority of one vote is required for acquittal, two for conviction, but your holy Mishnah also stipulates that a unanimous verdict of guilty has the effect of an acquittal and a sentence of death is forbidden!”

I still wasn’t finished.