 Much of Grouchy’s discussion of the law focuses of the question of punishment. Before 1789, there were a number of ways in which the law could kill its criminals depending both on the kind of crime they had committed and their station. Aristocrats were decapitated with a sword. This was regarded as the most honorable death, although it was not always the least painful or horrible. The Count Lally-Tollendal, who received the death penalty in 1766 for having betrayed the King’s interest at war, had to be hit three times by the sword before his neck could be broken and the head detached. Sanson, the executor of the Revolution, cited his example when defending the proposed new machine that would cut heads off neatly and instantly. Nonetheless, decapitation was more honorable than the sentences reserved for commoners of death by hanging (murderers) or the wheel (thieves, highway robbers). The crime women were most commonly accused of was infanticide or performing abortions. These were punished by hanging when they were found guilty of having killed their infants, but, as was most often the case, when evidence was lacking, they would do prison time for fornication, or be freed until more evidence could be found.