[The following is in regards to the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh.]
[…] when Coke returned to Cobham’s confession Ralegh showed his final hand: “You try me by the Spanish Inquisition, if you proceed only by the circumstances, without two witnesses.” Here, however, he made his first mistake. As Coke had already made pain, he knew Ralegh had planned such a defense and he informed him that the law had been amended, with the loophole requiring two witnesses to convict a man of treason closed years before. Ralegh realized that the only option that remained was for him to destroy the credibility of Cobham’s confession.
Cobham’s wife, the Countess of Kildare, had persuaded her husband to abandon his recent promises to Ralegh, but Ralegh believed that if he faced him in court he could bring Cobham around once more and he asked for him to be brought to the hall to accuse him in person.
Popham refused, arguing that to introduce such an uncertain witness might give him an unfair advantage over the crown!
Source:
Lisle, Leanda De. "The God of Truth and Time" After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England. New York: Ballantine, 2005. 265. Print.
Further Reading:
[Sir John Popham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Popham_(judge)
The modern version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx32b5igLwA