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I don't know why people say Pilate is shown as 'more' conflicted. He's shown as
quite conflicted in 2 of the 4 Gospels already.

Adjectives can really be slippery things. But from what I see in the King James version,
I'd say that at the least Pilate was baffled as to why this Jesus fellow
was held as being more worthy of death than a real criminal like Barabas (sp?)...
And the "washing of the hands" tells me (IMHO) that even if he's sent many Jews
to their death by crucifixion, he was REALLY bothered by this event.

Sorry I can't recall the source, but I think that on one of the radio shows discussing
"The Passion", it was mentioned that Pilate was eventually recalled to Rome
because he got in hot water for having too many people crucified.
If this is a historical verifiable fact (along with the Gospel accounts)...
he certainly was a guy who believed in capital punishment...
but was left totally conflicted about why a carpenter from Galilee with a
particular theological POV should actually be executed.