"One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." (Deuteronomy 19:15) Deuteronomy is not the only book of the Bible where this law is stated. Back in Numbers 35:30, when we were told that the penalty for murder was execution, we were also told, "Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness."
Capital punishment is a thing that cannot be "taken back" once the deed is done. It's imperative that true guilt is established by the eyewitness testimony of two or more people. One witness could be mistaken about what he saw; a second testimony is needed to verify the facts. The first person may sincerely believe he saw who he thinks he saw doing what he thinks was being done but, as we've seen in modern times, sometimes a person has been identified by a crime victim only to be freed from prison many years later based on new evidence or new DNA technology. This means that the victim or a witness misidentified the perpetrator. That's why in ancient Israel more than one person had to be able to pick the accused out of a lineup, so to speak, and more than one person had to describe the incident in the same way. Two or more people had to be able to say that they saw the accused deliberately take the life of another---that it was not a case of self defense or an accident.
Many types of legal cases were going to come before the judges, not just cases in which someone was accused of murder. These lesser cases may be disputes between two people in which it's one person's word against another. The priests and judges are to carefully question both parties to the dispute and, with the help of the Lord, render a decision. If the accuser is lying and his word is accepted then an innocent person is going to be paying back a debt he does not owe or going to jail for something he did not do. A thorough questioning must take place "in the presence of the Lord", as Moses will say, which means those judging the case must soberly and prayerfully handle this matter at the house of the Lord. This will help prevent an innocent person from being declared guilty in court. "If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party." (Deuteronomy 19:16-19a)
Bearing false witness is breaking one of the ten commandments. Bearing false witness is a crime against one's fellow man. To deter people from giving false testimony under oath in court, the accuser who is found to be lying will receive whatever sentence he hoped to see passed against the person he falsely accused. This is intended to make anyone think twice---at least twice!---before bringing untrue charges against another. "You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." (Deuteronomy 19:19b-21)
Any witness intending to give testimony in court had to carefully examine his heart and be sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he actually saw enough of the crime taking place to state exactly how it happened. He had to be sure he got a good enough look at the person committing a murder to confidently identify that person. In lesser legal cases, a witness better stop and think about whether it was worth it to him to falsely accuse his neighbor in a dispute, for if the priests and judges realize he's lying then he will be the one to bear the penalty. The Lord does not want innocent persons being accused of crimes or paying the penalty for crimes. The regulations He provided in Israel for judging legal cases are intended to protect the innocent from being accused or arrested and to and deter unrighteous people from bringing false cases to court and giving false testimonies against their fellow man.
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