פירוש על קידושין 63:10

He said to him: Rav Yehudah, his son, [said] to Rav Yechezkel, "Father, do not teach it this way, 'Those to be burned [became mixed in] among those to be stoned'" - and the ones to be stoned would be the majority. As, if so, why did you attach the reason - that burning is more stringent. I will teach it, because it cannot be said that they would all be with burning. For if so, you have gone after the minority.

Those to be stoned [became mixed in] among those to be burned: As even though those to be burnt are the majority, they are judged with stoning, since it is lighter.

R. Judah points out that if the majority are condemned to be stoned, then there would be two reasons to stone them and not burn them—1) It is a less severe penalty; 2) It is what the majority are to receive. Rather, he should change the order of the words—it is a few who are to be stoned who are mixed up with the majority that are to be burned. This helps isolate R. Shimon’s principle. Despite the fact that the majority should have been burned, they all must be stoned because it is prohibited to give a criminal a more severe penalty than he deserves.