History Main / MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence

This trope is also popular among fictional and real life [[ConspiracyTheorist]]s, who come to the conclusion that if a certain group or government would benefit from a major tragedy, they must be the ones who caused it.

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', the protagonist landed himself in jail for being suspected of the murder of his wife simply because he told her that [[SeeYouInHell he would see her in hell]] before [[RenoDivorce he would see her in Reno]]. [[MiscarriageOfJustice He also got sentenced]] [[IncriminatingIndifference because his shock at the events going on (and thus lack of expression) had the judge and jury believe he was a "stone-cold killer"]].

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', the protagonist landed himself in jail for being suspected of the murder of his wife simply because he told her that [[SeeYouInHell he would see her in hell]] before [[ItMakesSenseInContext he would see her in Reno]]. [[MiscarriageOfJustice He also got sentenced]] [[IncriminatingIndifference because his shock at the events going on (and thus lack of expression) had the judge and jury believe he was a "stone-cold killer"]].

** A lack of an alibi doesn't help either. In fact, once motive is found, most TV cops seem to think a suspect claiming he/she was "home alone or home alone with my wife/husband/sister/brother, etc" is tantamount to a confession, since there really isn't a way someone can prove that and said spouse/sibling could be lying.

* Played straight and inverted in ''LoisLane #39'', Superman and Lois have finally tied the knot, only for Lois to fly into a rage when she finds [[RealityChangingMiniature portraits]] of Superman's old girlfriends. When the portraits turn up painted on, Superman thinks Lois did it. Lois points out that one of the messed-up portraits was JimmyOlsen's, and while she might be jealous of her husband's old girlfriends, she would have no reason to mess up a picture of Jimmy. Superman agrees.

In a real legal situation, motive is one of the least important factors regarding prosecution of a guilty party. It's not required that the reason the defendant had committed a crime is known, only if he acted with intent, or knowing what the defendant would have tried to achieve by committing the crime. In fiction, motive is the factor that makes a good cohesive story, which is why this trope is able to persist.

* ''Film/TheFugitive'': The fact that Richard Kimble would have gained something from killing his wife (namely, money-even if he was already rich from being one of the best surgeons in Chicago) is [[MistakenForMurderer one]] [[HollywoodLaw of]] [[FrameUp the]] many reasons why the Chicago Police Department arrest him [[PoliceAreUseless and don't give a second thought]] [[BadCopIncompetentCop to continue the investigation]]. [[WhatTheHellHero Needless to say]], being a straight-up good cop, [[InspectorJavert Samuel]] [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Gerard]] points out the stupidity of this the first chance he gets to talk to the original investigating detctives. [[spoiler: [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she *did* died for money]]-just not ''hers''. And there's [[FridgeLogic the]] [[FridgeHorror fact]] [[UnfortunateImplications that]] [[DirtyCop the]] "one-armed man" was an ex-Chicago Policeman...]]
* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', the protagonist landed himself in jail for being suspected of the murder of his wife simply because he told her that [[SeeYouInHell he would see her in hell]] before [[ItMakesSenseInContext he would see her in Reno]]. [[MiscarriageOfJustice He also got sentenced]] [[IncriminatingIndifference because his shock at the events going on (and thus lack of experession) had the judge and jury believe he was a "stone-cold killer"]].

* ''Series/{{Motive}}'' inverts this trope since the detectives usually don't discover the motive for the crime till the end of the episode and by that time they have a fair bit of evidence to convict the perpetrator. The show's gimmick is that we know from the start who the killer is but the reasons for the crime are hidden till the very end.

** An earlier episode in the first season involved one clone attempting to frame another for being a traitor. The framed clone was blamed because he looted the fingers of destroyed battle droids from the battlefield and strung them together to make little bracelets, which was explicitly forbidden. The real traitor was found out immediately after he blamed the other because [[INeverSaidItWasPoison because he knew that the Jedi were off the base, and no one told him that]], exposing him as the one who bugged the command center and exposed strategic secrets to the Seperatists.
** "Senate Murders". Senator Onoconda Farr dies and is found by the inspector to have been poisoned. Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala investigate against the inspector's advice, and at one point they accuse the Kaminoan senator of being responsible because Ono was one of the opposers of a bill to create more clone soldiers. Though she's not the nicest senator and did benefit from the death, she vehemently denies the murder. [[spoiler:After finding out the poison was Rodian-specific, and that one of the other senators who shared the drink was Rodian like Ono but didn't get poisoned, she was identified as the real culprit]].

Often this leads to trouble when the suspect is innocent and protests that his motive isn't proof. A repeat offender may state that it's NotMeThisTime. May lead to a ClearMyName. Sometimes a prosecutor knows the suspect is innocent but will use this fallacy to his advantage to frame the suspect. The simple (but not easy) solution to [[WeNeedToGetProof actually bring evidence to light]], quite possibly to realize that the prosecutor's accusations were wrong.

* This is all over the place, throughout the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series. While some of the defendants have motives for the crimes they're accused of, most of them don't. It's even lampshaded in ''Dual Destinies'', when [[spoiler:Apollo]] continues to accuse [[spoiler:Athena]] of killing his friend, even after Phoenix argues a lack of motive, stating that plenty of people have killed for reasons no one could figure out. On the other hand, establishing a motive is generally key to getting the real guilty party arrested. On the ''other'' other hand, the Judge always has evidence be provided to back things up, so while the motive is usually needed, it's also not enough on its own.

* This is all over the place, throughout the ''AceAttorney'' series. While some of the defendants have motives for the crimes they're accused of, most of them don't. It's even lampshaded in ''Dual Destinies'', when [[spoiler:Apollo]] continues to accuse [[spoiler:Athena]] of killing his friend, even after Phoenix argues a lack of motive, stating that plenty of people have killed for reasons no one could figure out. On the other hand, establishing a motive is generally key to getting the real guilty party arrested. On the ''other'' other hand, the Judge always has evidence be provided to back things up, so while the motive is usually needed, it's also not enough on its own.

** "Senate Murders". Senator Onoconda Farr dies and is found by the inspector to have been poisoned. Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala investigate against the inspector's advice, and at one point they accuse the Kaminoan senator of being responsible because Ono was one of the opposers of a bill to create more clone soldiers. Though she's not the nicest senator and did benefit from the death, she vehemently denies the murder. [[After finding out the poison was Rodian-specific, and that one of the other senators who shared the drink was Rodian like Ono but didn't get poisoned, she was identified as the real culprit]].

* ''Film/TheFugitive'': The fact that Richard Kimble would have gained something from killing his wife (namely, money-even if he was already rich from being one of the best surgeons in Chicago) is [[MistakenForMurderer one]] [[HollywoodLaw of]] [[FrameUp the]] many reasons why the Chicago Police Department arrest him [[PoliceAreUseless and don't give a second thought]] [[BadCopIncompetentCop to continue the investigation]]. [[WhatTheHellHero Needless to say]], [[InspectorJavert Sam]] [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Gerard]] points out the stupidity of this the first chance he gets. [[spoiler: [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she *did* died for money]]-just not ''hers''. And there's [[FridgeLogic the]] [[FridgeHorror fact]] [[UnfortunateImplications that]] [[DirtyCop the]] "one-armed man" was an ex-Chicago Policeman...]]

* In the live action movie of ''Film/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', this shows up in the final trial, when Phoenix accuses [[spoiler:Manfred von Karma]] of murdering Gregory Edgeworth. [[spoiler:Von Karma]] insists that without a motive, Wright has no grounds to accuse him of doing it. Played with in that Phoenix ''has''' provided good evidence that [[spoiler:Von Karma]] is the killer, and the insistence of a motive was him clutching at straws, since he figured no one could prove the reason he did it.

Expect this trope to come out a lot as a RedHerringTwist in PoliceProcedural shows--''especially'' if there was an AssholeVictim. If the victim was really unpopular or even a CompleteMonster, this trope could evolve into EverybodyDidIt, because EveryoneIsASuspect.

** An earlier episode in the first season involved one clone attempting to frame another for being a traitor. The framed clone was blamed because he looted the fingers of destroyed battle droids from the battlefield and strung them together to make little bracelets, which was explicitly forbidden. The real traitor was found out immediately after he blamed the other because [[INeverSaidItWasPoison because he knew that the Jedi were off the base, and no one told him that]].

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* This has been applied so many times on the ''Series/CSI:CrimeSceneInvestigation'' and the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchises (as mentioned above, usually as a RedHerringTwist) that it would be easier to number the times it ''wasn't'' used. [[BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible The suspects flying into a rage or shutting up]] ([[OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers usually because a lawyer tells them to]]) when the motive is brought up (and in typical fashion of these shows, the interrogator is being rather cynical and [[DeadpanSnarker smart-mouthed]] about it) [[NotHelpingYourCase doesn't helps them in any way]]. [[DownerEnding And sometimes, even if innocent, by the time the investigators have conclusive evidence the damage has been done]].

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}''. Red discusses her side of the story and thinks the Wolf is up to something bad involving a rash of recipe thefts because he's following her around, asking her personal questions, and she thinks that's creepy. Flippers, the police interrogator, tells Red they don't arrest people for being creepy. Wolf believed earlier in the film that ''Red'' and her Granny were behind the recipe thefts because their family owns the biggest snack-making company in the forest and therefore had a reason to steal recipes, so he followed Red to investigate. Both Red and Wolf are innocent regarding the thefts and are subsequently released after their alibis are confirmed so the police could identify the real culprit.

* This trope is the basis of [[spoiler: Tyrion's]] trial in ''[[ASongOfIceAndFire A Storm of Sword]]''. Many witness claimed they heard him threaten [[spoiler: Cersei and Joffrey]], and that convinces the entire realm that he murdered [[spoiler: Joffrey. Though Tyrion had little love for his nephew, and ''was'' harsh toward him, he is completely innocent.]]

When investigating a mystery or a crime, there are a lot of steps to go through. The crime scene must be investigated to figure out what happened and how it was done, and suspects are identified based on why they want to do this.

Sometimes, the suspect's motive is enough to incriminate them, even if no concrete evidence is presented or it doesn't add up. Quite possibly an AmateurSleuth might have gone on a wild guessing spree and thought it made sense, but had only jumped to conclusions and ended up making baseless accusations. Their conclusions may have not necessarily been led by InsaneTrollLogic, but they forgot the big detail: you need actual concrete clues and other proof before going out and pointing fingers. In fiction, this is not always the case, and one can bypass all methods of proving who the perpetrator was if a given suspect's motive is reason enough.

Often this leads to trouble when the suspect is innocent and protests that their motive isn't proof. A repeat offender may state that it's NotMeThisTime. May lead to a ClearMyName. Sometimes a prosecutor knows the suspect is innocent but will use this fallacy to their advantage to frame the suspect. The simple (but not easy) solution to [[WeNeedToGetProof actually bring evidence to light]], quite possibly to realize that their accusations were wrong.

Expect this trope to come out a lot as a RedHerringTwist in PoliceProcedural shows-''especially'' if there was an AssholeVictim. If the victim was really unpopular or even a CompleteMonster, this trope could evolve into EverybodyDidIt, because EveryoneIsASuspect.

In a real legal situation, motive is one of the least important factors regarding prosecution of a guilty party. It's not required that the reason the defendant had committed a crime is known, only if they acted with intent, or knowing what the defendant would have tried to achieve by committing the crime. In fiction, motive is the factor that makes a good cohesive story, which is why this trope is able to persist.

Compare NotProven, where a lack of evidence allows a guilty party to go free. ConvictionByContradiction, when a flaw in the alibi implicates the suspect, and ConvictionByCounterfactualClue, when the evidence proving guilt is totally wrong in the first place.

[[AC:Film]]

* ''TheFugitive'': The fact that Richard Kimble would have gained something from killing his wife (namely, money-even if he was already rich from being one of the best surgeons in Chicago) is [[MistakenForMurderer one]] [[HollywoodLaw of]] [[FrameUp the]] many reasons why the Chicago Police Department arrest him [[PoliceAreUseless and don't give a second thought]] [[BadCopIncompetentCop to continue the investigation]]. [[WhatTheHellHero Needless to say]], [[InspectorJavert Sam]] [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Gerard]] points out the stupidity of this the first chance he gets. [[spoiler: [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she *did* died for money]]-just not ''hers''. And there's [[FridgeLogic the]] [[FridgeHorror fact]] [[UnfortunateImplications that]] [[DirtyCop the]] "one-armed man" was an ex-Chicago Policeman...]]
* In the ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', the protagonist landed himself in jail for being suspected of the murder of his wife simply because he told her that [[SeeYouInHell he'll see her in hell]] before [[ItMakesSenseInContext he'll see her in Reno]]. [[MiscarriageOfJustice He also got sentenced]] [[IncriminatingIndifference because his shock at the events going on (and thus lack of experession) had the judge and jury believe he was a "stone-cold killer"]].
* Defied in ''{{Hoodwinked}}''. Red discusses her side of the story and thinks the Wolf is up to something bad involving a rash of recipe thefts because he's following her around, asking her personal questions, and she thinks that's creepy. Flippers, the police interrogator, tells Red they don't arrest people for being creepy. Wolf believed earlier in the film that ''Red'' and her Granny were behind the recipe thefts because their family owns the biggest snack-making company in the forest and therefore had a reason to steal recipes, so he followed Red to investigate. Both Red and Wolf are innocent regarding the thefts and are subsequently released after their alibis are confirmed so the police could identify the real culprit.

[[AC:Literature]]

* This has been applied so many times on the CSI:CrimeSceneInvestigation and the LawAndOrder franchises (as mentioned above, usually as a RedHerringTwist) that it would be easier to number the times it ''wasn't'' used. [[BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible The suspects flying into a rage or shutting up]] ([[OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers usually because a lawyer tells them to]]) when the motive is brought up (and in typical fashion of these shows, the interrogator is being rather cynical and [[DeadpanSnarker smart-mouthed]] about it) [[NotHelpingYourCase doesn't helps them in any way]]. [[DownerEnding And sometimes, even if innocent, by the time the investigators have conclusive evidence the damage has been done]].

* One episode of ''{{Rugrats}}'' has Suzie blame Angelica for stealing her brand-new tricycle. Angelica was completely innocent — Suzie's trike was under her porch, Angelica's trike was her own and Angelica's red hands (which Suzie thought was from opening her garage's painted doors) were actually from her finger painting an apology letter.
* ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'':

** Northern Water Tribe members are suspected for bombing the Southern Water Tribe cultural center during a peaceful protest made by Southerners. Mako knows better, witnessing that the perpetrator was a firebender and identifying who he is as well as his affiliation with a bending triad. Other cops on the police force tell Mako to quit because it was clear that the Northerners did it. This poor judgement is portrayed as [[CorruptCop laziness on their part]].