C is one of those languages (like JavaScript, arguably) that's stuffed full of so many foot-guns you can't possibly hope to make them all statically impossible.

C is one of those languages (like JavaScript, arguably) that's stuffed full of so many foot-guns you can't possibly hope to make them all statically impossible. So strong conventions need to exist no matter what, and "don't put case statements below the first block" seems like an easy enough one to visually enforce.