History Main / ProppingUpTheirPatsy

** ''Film/TheReturnOfHunterEveryoneWalksInLA'': Serial killer Jack Valko poses as a civilian to proclaim the innocence of his patsy to both play mind games with Lt. Rick Hunter, and to dodge suspicion while waiting for Hunter to figure out that he's the killer.

* One ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' story has Archie freaking out over Mr. Weatherbee wanting to meet his father, believing he's in big trouble. After failing to sabotage their meeting several times, he has Reggie barge into their meeting to confess to a list of potential wrongdoings that might have warranted this meeting, then defending those wrongdoings in hopes to reduce the sentence. While he's at it, Reggie adds some of his own wrongdoings to Archie's "confessions".

* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': After Gabriel is exposed as Hawkmoth, Lila goes to the police to testify about how he hired her as a model, painting herself as an UnwittingPawn... of both him ''and'' Adrien. When she realizes that her mother and the police are starting to grow suspicious of Adrien, she immediately leaps to his defense, insisting that he couldn't ''possibly'' be involved with his father's scheming. This helps her sell her innocent, naive image, especially after Adrien goes to report [[CassandraTruth her stealing from him]].

* ''Series/AmericanVandal: Zig-zagged in both seasons:

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/Archer'' has a Cardinal hire the Camorra (essentially the Italian mafia) to assassinate the pope, then hiring ISIS to defend him under the assumption that their [[IncompetenceInc less-than-stellar track record]] would result in him being killed anyway. Naturally, [[SpringtimeForHitler ISIS succeed.]]

* ''Series/AmericanVandal'': Season 1 is a double-subversion of the guilty party defending the innocent, while Season 2 is a zig-zag of the culprit defending their scapegoat:
** Season 1: The story centers around an incident of vandalism, and Dylan is the one expelled for it. Christa is one of Dylan's most outspoken supporters. She starts a campaign on [=GoFundMe=] and sells "Free Dylan" t-shirts to raise funds for his legal defense. She even publicly announces that it was her (though that turns into an IAmSpartacus moment where ''everyone'' says it's them). It's suggested that she could be the vandal, though at other times it's treated like a RedHerring. In the end, it's implied that she ''was'' the true vandal.

** Season 2: Grayson Wentz, a former St. Bernadine student who was expelled over a minor prank, is interviewed early on in season 2. He believes Kevin [=McClain=] is just the school administration's scapegoat for the pranks, and implies that the culprit is an athlete who the school is [[SlaveToPR covering up to save face]]. Both cases are true. Grayson is the mastermind behind it all and manipulated both Kevin and star basketball player [=DeMarcus=] Tillman into carrying out individual pranks.

* In ''Film/TheWolfman2010'', Sir John Talbot leaps to his son's defence when Lawrence is accused of being the werewolf that's been preying on the village, even warding off a gang of vigilantes with a shotgun and threatening to have his manservant snipe them from the rooftop of his manor. Initially, this seems to be a case of John going PapaWolf, especially since Lawrence is a werewolf -- he just hasn't killed anyone yet. However, Sir John is also a werewolf; unlike his son, he's a FullyEmbracedFiend and directly responsible for all the murders in the village over the last twenty years -- including that of Lawrence's mother and (more recently) his brother -- and he's just covering his tracks. So, when Lawrence turns up covered in blood after his first full moon, no suspicion falls on Sir John.

* ''Literature/TheSpyWhoCameInFromTheCold'': Leamas's mission is to [[FakeDefector pretend to defect]] and frame Mundt, the head of East German intelligence, of being a spy for Britain. Leamas is interrogated by Mundt's subordinate Fiedler, who suspects that Mundt is a DoubleAgent. During the interrogation, Leamas denies that Mundt is [[TheMole a mole]], but still gives Fiedler the evidence that seems to point the finger at Mundt. On a grander scale, this is [[TheSpymaster Control's]] plan. Fiedler is right that Mundt is working for British intelligence. Leamas's testimony was supposed to give Fiedler the evidence to make his accusation. However, Leamas was revealed to be a FakeDefector during the trial. This discredits the accusations against Mundt and makes it look like Fiedler is the one working for British intelligence.

* In ''Film/KnivesOut'', Ransom Thrombey Drysdale, the BlackSheep of the rich Thrombey family, is the only one to help the late Harlan Thrombey's nurse Marta after the family turns on her for inheriting the estate. Marta believes she accidentally overdosed Harlan, but Ransom switched her medicines to get her to kill him and lose the inheritance he was told she'd be getting. As such, under the pretense of allyship, Ransom gets Marta's account of the events but learns his murder attempt using her failed due to her choosing the correct medicine. Ransom thinks quickly and continues to let Marta think she is guilty, yet encourages her to fight for the inheritance while he secretly goes to destroy the proof of her innocence so his plan to discredit her and get back the family money can still go through. Ransom's guilt isn't unraveled or suspected until Harlan's toxicology report is shown to detective Benoit Blanc and proves Marta administered the correct medicine.

* ''Series/{{You}}'': In Season 2, [[spoiler:Love tells Joe she plans to frame Ellie for Henderson's murder before having her lawyers exonerate her in order to poison the investigation into the murder, which Joe committed. Joe, not trusting that Love will free Ellie and not wanting to traumatise her further, helps Ellie escape LA.]]

* ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'': Cersei frames her daughter-in-law Margaery for adultery to get her arrested by the Faith Militant. In front of the court, she pretends to be indignant that anyone would be telling "lies" about "her beloved good-daughter" and pleads with the Faith to release her, while fully aware that they will not budge on the accusations.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': In "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS1E1Pilot the pilot]]", Michael investigates a case in which a series of expensive paintings were stolen from a real estate tycoon's house. The police suspect his groundskeeper, even though the homeowner insists that his employee would never do such a thing. Michael soon discovers that the tycoon had "stolen" his own paintings as part of an insurance scheme. He defended his groundskeeper because he didn't ''want'' an innocent man to go to jail, but he did want to deflect suspicion away from himself.

*** Kristoph Gavin planted a fake diary page on Phoenix to get him disbarred for presenting forged evidence. In order to avoid suspicion, he voted against disbarring Phoenix, the only member of the Bar Association to do so. Seven years later, he serves as co-counsel to Apollo when Phoenix is accused of a murder committed by Kristoph.

** [[DecoyProtagonist Kaede Akamatsu]] has a noticeably sympathetic example. During the first trial, Shuichi Saihara and Miu Iruma come under suspicion due to proximity to the crime scene and having developed cameras used in the murder, respectfully. Kaede, the actual blackened, comes to their defence, since she is actually perfectly willing to confess and face execution, and the only reason she doesn't do that immediately is that she wanted to use the trial as an opportunity to find out the mastermind, her actual intended murder target, and end the DeadlyGame. Upon realising she can't find them, she fully confesses and proceeds to FaceDeathWithDignity.