Devarim 22:13-21 discuss a case in which a husband accuses his newlywed 12-12.5-year-old wife as having cheated on him in the period between Kiddushin and Nisuin, making her a married woman at the time and therefore liable to the death penalty. Most of the passage discusses if he’s lying, but v. 20-21 discuss what happens if he’s telling the truth:
וְאִם־אֱמֶ֣ת הָיָ֔ה הַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּ֑ה לֹא־נִמְצְא֥וּ בְתוּלִ֖ים לַֽנַּעֲרָֽה׃ וְהוֹצִ֨יאוּ אֶת־הַֽנַּעֲרָ֜ה אֶל־פֶּ֣תַח בֵּית־אָבִ֗יהָ וּסְקָלוּהָ֩ אַנְשֵׁ֨י עִירָ֤הּ בָּאֲבָנִים֙ וָמֵ֔תָה כִּֽי־עָשְׂתָ֤ה נְבָלָה֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לִזְנ֖וֹת בֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יהָ וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֥ הָרָ֖ע מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ׃
If this matter is true - there were no signs of virginity for the girl - then they will bring the girl out to the entrance of her father’s house, and the people of the city will stone her with stones, and she will die, for she has done an atrocity in Israel to commit harlotry in her father’s house, and you will destroy the evil in your midst.
A cursory reading of these Pesukim would seem to indicate that we don’t ask the girl for an explanation, either before or after the evidence or lack thereof is brought out. Does this indicate that the courts indeed do not ask her for a defense? Does this entire case only apply if she pleads innocent, or if she pleads that she remains a virgin? Let’s say she claims that she was raped; does that get her off the hook if they don’t find any signs of virginity?
