I remember some vague plotline in which something made things awkward for the villain and the only way he could get out of it was to have volunteers who would happily die for him on the gallows! What was that all about?
What you remember is wrong. Bill picked some people to be hanged, that's all. They got convicted and were guilty. That's how things were. Everyone was a criminal and guilty, so much so that law wasn't greatly enforced, but it took a powerful person to either go after someone, or remove their protection.
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