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What position did Julius Caesar take during the Catiline conspiracy?

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Statue of Julius Caesar in Roman military attire stands in front of a domed building in Rome, Italy, with a clear blue sky in the background. — Julius Caesar Julius Caesar, bronze sculpture in Rome.

During the debate in the Senate regarding the fate of the conspirators involved in Catiline's conspiracy, Julius Caesar took a position of mercy.1

While the consul Cicero advocated for the death penalty for the arrested conspirators, Caesar proposed a more lenient alternative. His motion was ultimately defeated following an uproar in the Senate, and the conspirators were executed on the responsibility of Cicero. Although Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus were accused of complicity in the conspiracy, it is considered unlikely that either had committed himself to Catiline's cause.12