Question

The Rabbi said in a lecture on conservatism and tradition that if a religious court were to kill a person even though it knew he did not deserve it, just because of theoretical rules, “the religious court that rules that way should be killed.” How does the Rabbi explain the story of the son of Shimon ben Shetach, who was framed {like they did to Raful, like to Yaakov Neeman — “I heard with my own ears Ben Yair say: I’m going to nail the fascist,” testified Shabas, Kahalani, etc. etc.}?
In Midrash Aseret HaDibrot (Otzar HaMidrashim, Eisenstein, p. 461):
As we learned: Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach hanged eighty women sorceresses in Ashkelon. After he did this, relatives of the sorceresses came and coordinated the day and hour and testified about the son of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach that he had committed a transgression punishable by stoning. And his father, Rabbi Shimon, sentenced him to stoning even though he knew about him that he had never sinned in his life. Since they coordinated their testimony, they took him out to be stoned. The son of Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach said to them: If I committed this transgression, then may the witnesses be innocent and all Israel be innocent, and let my death atone for me. But if not, then all my sins are forgiven me, and the guilt hangs on the necks of the witnesses, while all Israel remain innocent. The witnesses said: How can we spill innocent blood? They said to him: We gave false testimony because his father killed our relatives. Rabbi Shimon said: It is already written in the Torah, “If he does not tell it, then he shall bear his iniquity”; once he has testified, he cannot go back and testify again. And they killed him, and the guilt hung on the necks of the witnesses. Therefore a person should guard himself against evil speech and protect his soul from troubles.
Thank you very much, Rabbi