That plays out in the Discworld novels. The idea is, pray the man about to kill you is a bad guy, because he’ll fuck around, gloat, maybe make a mistake. If he’s a good guy, he’ll kill you instantly.

There’s an episode of doctor who with a similar interaction (to the spoiler).

BBEG: This is why good men always lose. They follow too many rules.

Doctor: That’s where you’re wrong. Good men don’t need rules.

From memory, so exact phrasing is probably wrong but the idea is there