Jesus, Barabbas, and the Crowd

Jesus had a Passover meal with his friends, and then one of them left the table to go and betray him. Jesus and the remaining disciples went to Gethsemane to pray. While he was there, Judas and the guards came to arrest him. He was bound, beaten and made fun of all the way to the house of Caiaphas. Eventually, the 71 members of the Sanhedrin decided his crime was worthy of death. But they couldn't sentence somebody to death at Passover. So, they sent Jesus to Pontius Pilate. Pilate gave the crowd an option. Who should be freed? Barabbas, or Jesus? How could the crowd choose Barabbas over Jesus? Just because the crowd was loud, doesn't mean they were right.