And even more, why does only ONE GUY, in all of those bad actors, get 2000 years of weekly "bad press", and nobody else? Especially when he is the ONLY one (other than His followers) getting mentioned as trying to defend Jesus?
(I just kind of empathize with Pilate, I guess, having been in so many no-win scenarios, and being the only one to take heat for events where many participated.)
At the time of the gospels, Jews and Christians had no developed philosophical vocabulary for talking about free will. The result is, to our ears, what sounds like fatalism. E.g., as the gospel writers express it, Jesus preaches in parables in order to CAUSE people not to understand what he is saying.
Judas, Caiaphas, etc., were not automatons merely because their actions were prophesied. They acted freely, and were blameworthy.