Albert Barnes Commentary John 19:33

"but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:" — John 19:33 (ASV)

Saw that he was dead. Saw by the indications of death on his person, and perhaps by the testimony of the centurion (Matthew 27:54). The death of Jesus was doubtless hastened by the intense agony of the garden, and the peculiar sufferings endured as an atonement for sin on the cross. .