We read in Jn 8: 6-8 (NRSVCE), of how an adulterous woman is brought before Jesus so that she could be judged by him:
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Going back, we see that Jesus was teaching in the temple courts when that happened :
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them...
In the KJV version, it is clear why Jesus writes first time on the ground , that is to feign ignorance of the question put to him. But he resumes writing on the ground (Jn 8:8)after giving the verdict . But, humanly speaking, how could he be sure of the behavior of the Pharisees whom he himself had called `hard-hearted '(Mtt 19: 8 )? They could have all proclaimed themselves as free from sin and pelted stones at the woman, couldn't they ?
My question therefore, is: According to Catholic Scholars, why did Jesus write on the ground for a second time while the crowd with the adulterous woman was standing before him ?