History Main / MustLetThemGetAway

* In ''ComicBook/TheOtherSideOfDoomsday'', ComicBook/TheFlash and ComicBook/TheAtom attack the "Wind Pirates", a gang which is part of a greater criminal organization, intending to let at least one get away so they can follow him back to the ringleader. Unfortunately, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} unintentionally ruins their plan by unexpectedly showing up and knocking all pirates out.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen / Engineer'', Shelton sees Darby walk away... and shake hands with the prosecutor.
* ''Film/LordOfWar'' ends with the HeroAntagonist being forced to let the VillainProtagonist go free because his superiors in the U.S government want to keep using the protagonist as a gun-runner to surreptitiously supply the enemies of their enemies.

* WesternAnimation/DangerMouse lets Greenback and Stiletto go at the conclusion of "There's A Penfold In My Suit" since they really had done nothing of a criminal nature in the episode.

* ''Series/FatherBrown'': Father Brown does this for [[spoiler:Wilhelm]] out of sympathy for his experience. [[spoiler:And considering that he didn't actually kill Father Frank, who will die of natural causes.]]

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Shows up in Zaeed's loyalty mission. For a bit of background: You're helping him with an outstanding contract to liberate a refinery that's been taken over by the Blue Suns mercenary company. During the course of the mission, Zaeed reveals he has an ulterior motive for taking on the contract: he wants a chance to kill his traitorous ex-partner, Vido Santiago. Shortly afterwards, you confront Vido, and Zaeed deliberately ignites the refinery's fuel lines and sets the entire place on fire, ''with the enslaved workers still trapped inside'', at which point you're forced to choose between immediately pursuing Vido or stopping to help the workers. If you choose the latter, you save most of them, but you catch up with Vido just in time to watch his ship take off. Zaeed is '''not''' happy in that case ("You just cost me twenty years of my life!"), but it is possible for a sufficiently fast talker to give him a well deserved chewing out and secure his loyalty anyway. [[KickTheSonOfABitch Or just leave him to burn.]] (He's trapped under a girder that fell on him [[HoistByHisOwnPetard because of an explosion he caused]])

* Pelant loved this on ''{{Series/Bones}}. In his first appearance, he was on house arrest and used his hacker skills to make that his alibi. After framing Brennan, he hacked his identity and Booth had to let him go with the Egyptian authorities since he made an idea from that country. After stealing Hodgins’ money, Booth shot him but only wounded him and couldn’t stop him as he drove away.

[[folder:Anime]]
* In one episode of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', a man murders his girlfriend in front of an off-duty Togusa, but gets let off when [[UnconventionalCourtroomTactics the district attorney portrays him as an anti-cyborg bigot]]. [[spoiler: [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident Unfortunately for the man, Section Nine isn't about to let something like that stand]].]]
[[/folder]]

* In ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' the criminal Jaeger manages to keep getting away because Tim is always busy dealing with his victims or trying to repair the damage he's done to a vehicle. It's years before Tim is able to hand him into police custody.
* In the comic ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'', Zot signed a contract that laid down the terms for his advertising job...aaand forced him to not even touch the Villain Of The Week and his plot to take over the entire planet.

* At the end of ''Film/{{Shooter}}'', the Attorney General knows that the hero is innocent and the bad guys are guilty as sin, but he doesn't have enough hard evidence to charge them with anything. He reluctantly lets the bad guys go, and tells the hero that he is free to go as well. [[spoiler:The bad guys then find out the hard way why antagonizing one of the best snipers in the world is a really bad idea.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In one episode of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', a man murders his girlfriend in front of an off-duty Togusa, but gets let off when [[CourtroomAntics the district attorney portrays him as an anti-cyborg bigot]]. [[spoiler: [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident Unfortunately for the man, Section Nine isn't about to let something like that stand]].]]

* In ''Series/{{Life}}'', Crews and Reese arrest a murderer but have no proof. They end up putting him away for the only charge they could get him convicted for- parole violation, which was a mere one year of jail. However, the victim's father is in the same prison...

->I like you, Jack. Well... maybe not, but I understand you. Let me tell you what's going to happen, then this way you can prepare yourself.\\

So you call me evil... but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil.\\

Related to ConvictionByContradiction, and might be followed by WeWillMeetAgain. Not to be confused with ForcedToWatch, or WatchingTroyBurn. Contrast with SparringTheFinalMook.