Was Saul a member of the Sanhedrin?

The witnesses involved in the stoning of Stephen laid their coats at the feet of Saul.[i] The role of a witness was very different in ancient Israel from what it is in our justice system. The Torah says, "Your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people,"[ii] and again, "The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people."[iii] Rabbinic law follows this injunction literally, but confines its consummation within narrow limits.[iv]

The men who laid their coats at the feet of Saul were the men that would stone Stephen to death. But why did they place their coats at his feet? The Talmud has an interesting account of the act of stoning that may contain the answer.

“When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’[v] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar, ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin, and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to what he is saying.”[vi]

The Jewish New Testament Commentary by David H. Stern has an interesting comment about the above excerpt from the Talmud.

“. . .Joseph Shulam thinks sudar in later Hebrew can also mean ‘coat.’ Thus, he conjectures, the Greek translator of Acts from a presumed original Hebrew text didn’t understand the Jewish context and therefore wrote of laying coats at Sha’ul’s feet, whereas actually Shu’ul was a member of the Sanhedrin, specifically, the one who held the sudar.”[vii]