Note 180 — Legal Restrictions

Instead of the required stoning, the culprit would fall from a roof or be trampled by an animal. Instead of being burned by the sentence of a court, he would fall into a fire or be bitten by a snake. Instead of being executed by the court, he would fall into the power of the government or of robbers. Instead of suffering the legal punishment of strangulation, he would die from drowning or suffocation. Sanh. 37b.