WHY?

Maybe the pet rock craze deprived them of enough stones to kill Jesus and the two gangsters who died along with him.

Jesus was already stoned.

Pssst…the Bible is a story-book written over many decades by many authors in multiple language. It’s heresay…not the gospel truth.(I had to). There is no eyewitness here to corroborate these events. Asking about this subject is fruitless as no one here is over 2000 years old.

Taking your question one step further: would it somehow have been better if they chose to stone him to death? I don’t see how.

The Canonical gospels were decided by the Council of Nicaea under the auspices of the Roman Emperor.

Crucifixion was the standard form of execution practiced by Rome.

It's fairly obvious why then Roman church would want to distance itself from that and blame the Jews.

Jesus was executed by crucifixion, a Roman, not Jewish, method of capital punishment. (Under Roman rule in 1st-century Judea, the Sanhedrin Jewish council] lacked the authority to carry out capital punishment.)

I have to hand it to you, it takes a special kind of genius to view the flaming obvious as some sort of impenetrable enigma.

No-one here has nailed the answer yet but wringing of hands is not the best idea after washing hands. Steve was stoned by a mob, and execution by stoning requires a trial under Jewish law. It was convenient to allow the Romans to handle the case expeditiously.

WHY does the pony know only one trick,