Most scholars agree that Jesus was executed by crucifixion on the authority of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.
Robert Funk, Honest to Jesus (San Fransisco, HarperCollins, 1996), p. 221
The importance of this quote is that Funk is very sceptical about the reliability of the gospels and thwe New Testament as history. However, even he admits that Jesus existed and died by crucifixion. To deny this would be to employ a scepticism to all history that would make almost nothing knowable.