Sanhedrin 78: Consequences for Unclear Aggressors, Those Who are Wounded

A brief synopsis of today's daf:

• if one is already wounded, is hurt by people, and then dies, is anyone liable?
• if a treifa, an animal destined to die within a year, is wounded and then is killed, is anyone liable?
• is the last person of a number of people to hurt someone considered to be a murderer?
• it is noted that if a person puts a snake's tooth into a person's arm so that the snake releases its venom, it is the person who is liable and not the snake
• Rabbi Yehuda disagrees: the snake did the biting and injected the venom, and so the snake is the one who is liable

A new Mishna teaches about one who hits another with a fist or a rock and the beit din assessed that the victim will likely die.  If the victim improves but then worsens and dies, the aggressor is liable.  If the victim was not hit hard enough to be killed, then the aggressor might be exempt.  

• What if the victim recovers and walks in the market while the aggressor is killed?
• Because the beit din assessed the victim as mortally wounded, the aggressor might be imprisoned until it is determined whether or not the victim will die
• the rabbis wonder whether the aggressor should be killed for his crime, even if the death comes much later