History Main / MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence

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.

** The same trope shows up at the very climax of the book. In the first book, the mystery of Jon Arryn's death was the DrivingQuestion. At the end of that book, Ned Stark finds out that Cersei Lannister had powerful motives for wanting him dead and the ensuing fiasco leads to a CivilWar. Turns out, [[spoiler:that Cersei was framed at that time by Littlefinger, who also killed the King and framed Tyrion for it. Being a MagnificentBastard, he used this to ensure that PoorCommunicationKills]].

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}''. Red Puckett tells her side of the story. In her story, she 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 finds that creepy. Then Flippers tells Red they don't arrest people for being creepy. At the same time, the Wolf believes that ''Red'' and her Granny were behind the recipe thefts because Granny owns the biggest snack-making company in the forest and therefore had a reason to steal recipes, so he is following Red to investigate. Both of them are innocent regarding the thefts and are subsequently released after their alibis are confirmed so that Flippers can identify 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]], 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 detectives. [[spoiler:[[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she]] ''[[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot did]]'' [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot die 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 [[DivorceInReno 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"]].

* ''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 detectives. [[spoiler:[[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she *did* die for money]]--just not ''hers''. And there's [[FridgeLogic the]] [[FridgeHorror fact]] [[UnfortunateImplications that]] [[DirtyCop the]] "one-armed man" was an ex-Chicago Policeman...]]

Sometimes the suspect's motive is enough to incriminate him, 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. The sleuth's conclusions may have not necessarily been led by InsaneTrollLogic, but he 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.

Sometimes, the suspect's motive is enough to incriminate him, 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. The sleuth's conclusions may have not necessarily been led by InsaneTrollLogic, but he 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.

This trope is also popular among fictional and real life {{Conspiracy Theorist}}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.

[[folder: Comics]]
* Played straight and inverted in ''ComicBook/LoisLane #39'', Superman and Lois have finally tied the knot, only for Lois to fly into a rage when she finds [[RealityChangingMiniature portraits]], mostly 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 ComicBook/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.

* ''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 detectives. [[spoiler: [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she *did* die 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 one quest in ''Videogame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', the elf wizard Wrath is found dead with in his home, and his apprentice Jormund is instantly placed under house arrest as a suspect. Jormund had entered into a lifelong contract with Wrath, who would outlive him by several centuries, and is believed to have killed his mentor in order to bring the contract to an end. Plus, he's the only dwarf living in a community of elves, and [[ApeShallNeverKillApe elves generally consider themselves to be above the act of murder]]. [[spoiler:the real killer is Wrath himself, who committed suicide in a bid to [[InvertedTrope invert]] MurderTheHypotenuse and frame his love rival for the killing.]]

** The prosecutors often don't provide a motive for why the defendant would've committed the murder, instead just using the evidence and testimony gathered by the police investigation. Sometimes, when the real murderer is caught, you don't learn their motive until after they're arrested and you're waiting for the judge to give the Not Guilty verdict. At other times, you have to provide a motive (and evidence that supports said motive) for the person that the defense attorney accusing of being the real criminal.

* 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.

* Averted in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' franchise. The prosecutors in the games often never provide a motive for why your client would've committed the murder, instead just using the evidence and testimony gathered by the police investigation. Sometimes, when the real murderer is caught, you don't learn their motive unitl after they're arrested and you're waiting for the judge to give the Not Guilty verdict. At other times, though, you have to provide a motive (and evidence that supports said motive) for the person ''you're'' accusing of being the real criminal,

** There was also a preponderance of circumstantial evidence: she and her lover were murdered the same night as their argument, there was evidence placing him at the scene, he owned a gun which he couldn't produce for comparison and was never found... None of this is conclusive, but taken together, [[TruthInTelevision it's not implausible that a jury would convict him.]]

** The same trope shows up at the very climax of the book. In the first book, the mystery of Jon Arryn's death was the DrivingQuestion. At the end of that book, Ned Stark finds out that Cersei Lannister had powerful motives for wanting him dead and the ensuing fiasco leads to a CivilWar. Turns out, [[spoiler:that Cersei was framed at that time by Littlefinger, who also killed the King and framed Tyrion for it. Being a GenreSavvy MagnificentBastard, he used this to ensure that PoorCommunicationKills]].

** Unalaq accuses his brother Tonraq of conspiring to assassinate him. The judge states that there was a meeting where plans of a civil war was discussed, the meeting took place at Tonraq's home, and Tonraq is chief, and therefore he must be guilty. However, Korra knows her father is innocent because she was a direct witness to the event and Tonraq was not only absent from the assassination attempt, but had confessed sincerely to Korra that he had no intention of murdering his brother. [[spoiler: Unalaq knew all along that Tonraq was innocent and exploited this trope to have his brother found guilty and taken out of his way]].

* Averted in ''Literature/WithoutRemorse''. Ryan and Emmett eventually realize that Kelly, who is a retired SEAL who has the skills to kill all the drug dealers in Baltimore, also has an excellent motive to murder all the drug dealers in Baltimore, and from that conclude that he is 'the Invisible Man'. But in the next paragraph they openly admit that they have no real evidence, just a very convincing motive, so they have to keep investigating until they find some.

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

* Averted in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' franchise. The prosecutors in the games often never provide a motive for why your client would've committed the murder, instead just using the evidence and testimony gathered by the police investigation. Sometimes, ywhen the real murderer is caught, you don't learn their motive unitl after they're arrested and you're waiting for the judge to give the Not Guilty verdict. At other times, though, you have to provide a motive (and evidence that supports said motive) for the person ''you're'' accusing of being the real criminal,

* Averted in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' franchise. The prosecutors in the games often never provide a motive for why your client would've committed the murder, instead just using the evidence and testimony gathered by the police investigation. Sometimes, ywhen the real murderer is caught, you don't learn their motive unitl after they're arrested and you're waiting for the judge to give the Not Guilty verdict.

[[folder: Videogames]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}''. Red Puckett tells her side of the story. In her story, she 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 finds that creepy. Then Flippers tells Red they don't arrest people for being creepy. At the same time, the Wolf believes that ''Red'' and her Granny were behind the recipe thefts because Granny owns the biggest snack-making company in the forest and therefore had a reason to steal recipes, so he is following Red to investigate. Both of them are innocent regarding the thefts and are subsequently released after their alibis are confirmed so that Flippers can identify the real culprit.

* 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]], mostly 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.

** May be a subversion though. Worf [[spoiler: gets off because the Klingons had actually set the whole thing up with an empty transport and used a fake manifest of passengers killed in an earlier accident. Afterwards, Worf admits that he's not actually sure if he did it from duty or bloodlust, and Sisko tells him that he got damned lucky that it was a Klingon trap after all]].

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.

This trope is also popular among fictional and real life [[ConspiracyTheorist]] , 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.