It is common for cowardly bullies (and some of them appear as corporate managers in business) to distance themselves from wrong behaviour.  They want to be seen as reasonable people who are 'only doing their duty' – even though they have manipulated the circumstances to achieve the downfall of somebody who threatens them. Caiaphas, the High Priest was one of those.
 

The Sanhedrin was the Jewish High Court of 70 leading Pharisees and Sadducees plus the High Priest who presided as the judge.  These men had been hurriedly assembled in the middle of the night to hear the evidence against Jesus (Matthew 26:57).  After a lot of conflicting evidence had been presented, Caiaphas asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, the Son of God.  It was a question under oath; the judge knew what Jesus would reply.
 

From the Upper Room Passover gathering, two people would die the next day.  One was Jesus: He had been condemned to death by the religious court, but they could not carry out the sentence.  Under Roman law, only the Governor could authorise execution by crucifixion.  So, they sent Jesus to Pilate, even though they did not have a charge that warranted the death sentence (John 18:31).  The other person to die was Judas Iscariot, the betrayer.
 

Pilate was not an honourable man.  He had previously been responsible for unnecessary bloodshed in Israel where he was much disliked.  And he had been in trouble with the Emperor in Rome for his mismanagement of public order offences in Israel.  The last thing Pilate needed was to be politically trapped between the religious people in Israel and his masters in Rome.