History Main / SympatheticMurderer

*** In Chapter 5, [[spoiler:the [[GoodAllAlong so-called]] [[AccidentalMurder "killer"]] and [[TheMole "traitor"]], [[TheWoobie Chiaki Nanami]], is the most sympathetic culprit in the whole game, possibly even the whole ''series'', since the [[AssholeVictim "victim"]], Nagito Komaeda, was the true culprit. Having [[TomatoInTheMirror found out that the entire class including himself were formerly members of Ultimate Despair]], except for the traitor (whose identity he did not know), he decided that only the traitor deserved to live, and so planned his own death as an assisted suicide while relying on his [[BornLucky Ultimate Luck]] to make it so that the traitor would deal him the final blow, not only accidentally, but ''unknowingly'', in order to create a murder that the other students couldn't solve. Either they would rule it as a straight suicide and vote for him as the culprit, or realize that one of them unknowingly killed him but not know who and be forced to make a blind guess that would almost certainly be wrong. Chiaki, however, figured this out, realized that she was the one who accidentally killed him, and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed herself to save the others]]. Then Monokuma [[MoralEventHorizon kills both her and her friend Monomi, who killed nobody, just to twist the knife in]]. Really, the case was more Nagito committing suicide in such a way that it would give Monokuma the opportunity to decide that she killed him (and Monokuma, who wants as many students dead as possible, has every reason to treat ''any'' death as a murder case). And then it’s revealed in ''[[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool Danganronpa 3]]'' that [[spoiler:''this isn’t even the first time she’s died'']].

* ''Series/ThePower2023'': Allie finishes off her foster father after she's already incapacitated him through an initial shock form her power, at the voice's urging. Since he had just tried to rape her and it's implied he's a serial rapist, she stays pretty sympathetic.

** One notable case that keeps the typical AssholeVictim angle but ''subverts'' the sympathetic murderer one involves an old friend of Sonoko's sister taking revenge on another classmate who stole his girlfriend's work and drove her to suicide. He manages to kill her, but then attempts to murder Ran Mouri too, as [[spoiler: he is pretending to be overweight and Ran accidentally walked into his room while he was changing and saw that he really wasn't, but her glimpse of him was so quick she couldn't properly register everything]]. After Conan exposes him as the killer he claims he did it all in honor of his girlfriend's memory. Conan states that's a load of bull and exclaims [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that despite whatever intentions he had, trying to kill Ran was completely unrelated to those as she was innocent of the whole affair, so he's nothing but a complete bastard]].

* Scar from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Even his ruthlessness and attempt to kill TheProtagonist isn't enough to keep him from sympathetic, given that he is a genocide survivor who lost everything he held dear and is attempting to strike back at the country (and specifically at [[PersonOfMassDestruction the military's alchemists]]), that carried out the genocide of his people. He also admits that he feels horribly guilty for [[spoiler:killing Winry's parents, because they were innocents and had saved him]].

* [[spoiler:Alma Karma]] from ''Manga/DGrayMan'', who may have had a worse childhood then even Allen!

* Nogizaka Erika in the ''Manga/FrankenFran'' chapter "Cannibalism", who had only killed and eaten the flesh of her victims in a bizarre attempt to treat her own autoimmune disease (her victims had the same disease and she was trying to use oral tolerance to make herself better), particularly since her first victim was her abusive mother, who often neglected her daughter and ignored all the signs that she was ill. [[spoiler:She ends up dying on the table from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease caused by her cannibalism while Fran tried to operate on her, but not before we see her DyingDream in which she's finally happy.]]

* This is a staple in ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles''. The main murder case is almost never motivated purely by greed or to cover-up past crimes. They are almost always someone who has lost a loved one to their targets, or have otherwise suffered abuse from the AssholeVictim, and is driven by their rage to become murderers. Even the ones who are financially motivated, such as the "Legend of Amakusa Treasure" case, is portrayed sympathetically. [[spoiler:The culprit has a dying daughter who desperately needs an expensive surgery, which he can't afford. The man's deceased wife is a supposed heiress to a conglomerate, but she has four other siblings who has a greater claim to the inheritance, so he kills them all to ensure that his daughter is the sole heir to the riches.]]

* Herbert from the Dungeon Verse became an overlord that murder by the thousands in ComicBook/DungeonTwilight, all so the world doesn't break apart. His backstory revealed that his first murder was a SadistTeacher who taught him how to hate among other things which ended up with him banned from his homeland after being forced to cut his father's arm in a duel to avoid execution. He admitted back then that part of him wanted to have an army so he could come back and kill whoever has a problem with that.

** The first culprit, [[spoiler: Kaito Fujiwara]], cracked under pressure and felt paranoid. He also didn't want to risk everything connected to his talent being destroyed, as [[spoiler: his parents constantly berated him and saw him as inferior. His work was all he had to prove them he wasn't worthless, and if it was gone then his life would never get any better.]]

** The third culprit, [[spoiler: Shizuka Matsuki]], was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She only intended to [[spoiler: talk Naomi and Shigeru out of killing two people, but became a target herself]]. Feeling guilty of what she did, she purposely allows herself to be caught so she can repent for her actions.

* Carl Lee Hailey in ''Film/ATimeToKill'' (and the book it's based on, naturally), so very much. He hid inside the local courthouse so he could commit premeditated murder against two men-redneck racists who kidnapped, raped and attempted to murder Carl's daughter and were likely to escape punishment for their crime unless Carl resorted to vigilantism.

* In the 1993 film ''Film/DesperateJustice'', also known as ''A Mother's Revenge'', a 12-year-old girl named Wendy is raped and beaten by a janitor at her school that she trusted. Which is not a spoiler since it happens early in the film and kicks off the entire plot. The spoiler, and where this trope comes into play, is that [[spoiler: the janitor's case was dismissed by the judge, in large part because his mother lied about having dinner with him at the time of the murder. This (combined with the janitor smiling and laughing about the ruling) pisses Wendy's mother off so much that ''she shoots and murders the janitor'' at the trial, and she is then the sympathetic murderer for the rest of the film. The main "plot" of the film then centers around whether the mother is really sympathetic or whether she's no better than the janitor]].

* Some of ''Franchise/JamesBond''s killings would fit the legal definition of murder. Considering his victims are invariably [[AssholeVictim terrorists, gangsters, evil masterminds and other such scum]], it's unlikely any jury would convict (and Bond's license to kill literally means that so long as he can justify any killing he does as necessary for completing his current mission, the British courts won't even try to prosecute him. The courts of whatever country he's working in should he be caught is another matter).
* Anna of ''Film/TheArtOfSelfDefense'' is constantly belittled by Sensei and the dojo for simply being a woman. As a part of her backstory, the only reason she was given her own changing room as the dojo's only female student is because she was attacked from behind after the men were done changing and showed no mercy against her assailant.

* ''Film/SixtyEightKill'': The rest of the people he kills are to defend himself or others, but Chip also kills [[spoiler:Monica]] at the end because she murdered [[spoiler:Violet]]. As she ''really'' deserved it however, no one is likely going to care.

** A rule of thumb for Agatha Christie is that around 80% of sympathetic murderers are terminally ill so that the protagonist can feel comfortable with not turning them in. If you're a Sympathetic Murderer who wants to ''live'', you better be ''really'' justified.

** ''A Study In Scarlet''. The victims had been responsible for an ArrangedMarriage that involved kidnapping the bride, killing her father in the process and leading to her DeathByDespair. Her true love had finally tracked them down and killed them.
** In the short story "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange", the AssholeVictim was a drunken, [[DomesticAbuse abusive husband]]; the Sympathetic Murderer was actually guilty either of manslaughter or self-defense, since the husband attacked him when he caught him talking with his wife, but the circumstances made it look ''very'' bad.

* ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'', another Creator/StephenKing book, revoles around Billy Halleck, an obese lawyer who killed a Gypsy woman while driving, but manages to escape any punishment [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming while her name is smeared through court]]. This prompts her 106-year-old father [[GypsyCurse to curse him]], the judge, and the sheriff who were all complicit in [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections his escaping punishment]] with various means of BodyHorror - Halleck with losing two pounds every day until he effectively vanishes, the Judge with growing scaly skin, and the sheriff with weeping sores covering his face. The sheriff actually urges Halleck to have some sympathy for the distraught father.

* Pops up a few times in ''Creator/SophieHannah'' 's works:

** In ''The Carrier'' it turns out the murder of Francine was actually [[spoiler: a MercyKill. Lauren, Francine's caretaker, knew she was being verbally and psychologically abused by Tim, Kerry and Dan but couldn't prove it and was too scared of her husband to seek outside help, until eventually she decides to put Francine out of her misery. Tim, realising how he's turned into the abuser he once considered Francine to be, willingly confesses to the murder to protect Lauren and punish himself for torturing a severely disabled woman.]]

** A 'recovering' addict in "Road To Recovery" is found dead in a rehab clinic. The killer is found to be a recovering addict who is taking his treatment seriously for the sake of being allowed to see his children again. The victim had a rich husband and little to lose if she failed the course and enjoyed goading others into giving into their vices. She put a gift-wrapped bottle of bourbon into the guy's room and kept pushing him to drink it until he snapped and killed her by accident. To really push it even after all that, the guy still never drank a drop and broke down crying in the station when he realised he'd never see his sons again.

** A [[BigFun jolly fat guy]] who was sick and tired of constantly having his mailbox smashed by drunken teenagers driving by. In revenge, he filled his mailbox with cement, and unfortunately, one of the teenagers' arms broke, their car swerved, and they ran into a tree, killing them. The man is still arrested for murder because he concealed evidence by burying the fatal mailbox in his yard. [[note]]This is a case of ArtisticLicenseLaw as felony murder is huge stretch for any prosecutor trying to convict him, and even if they tried that, defacing a mailbox is Federal Crime and they would have no jurisdiction. And the burden of proof for reckless endangerment means they would have to convince a jury that it would be common sense that the kids would all die because of the concrete. At best they could nail him for destruction of evidence/obstruction of justice, a much less significant crime, especially under the circumstances. Long story short, he was arrested for plot reasons. [[/note]]

** Tyrion snaps and kills his former lover Shae after finding she'd betrayed him with his father. She seems to be the only woman he ever loved, and almost got him executed for a murder he didn't commit. Then he kills his father, who had showered his life with emotional and verbal abusive, blaming Tyrion for killing his own mother [[DeathByChildbirth while being born]]. That, plus being a dwarf, which he considers a divine punishment.

** Vaughn Perkins from "Bop Gun", one of the few perps to ever show regret for their crime. He's a sensitive teenager who shoots a woman during a botched mugging, and ultimately enters a guilty plea for a life sentence as penance. Howard finds him so sympathetic that she initially tries to prove he's taking the fall for his accomplices, only stopping when he confesses that he did it in front of her.
** Downplayed with Larry Biedron from "Subway". He's a PsychopathicManchild who pushed a man into the path of an oncoming subway train, and has done so before, but Bayliss points out he was institutionalized, but he was let out because of budget cuts even though he clearly still needed psychological help. That said, Pembleton and Bayliss are quick to mock him when he complains about being cold [[MoralMyopia while his victim, currently pinned between the train and the subway platform, is slowly and agonizingly dying from his injuries a few feet away from him.]]

** "Identity": An elderly man kills the guy who faked his identity and used it to sell his house on the market. The victim was counting on the guy being too old and feeble to do anything about it. The man's son and lawyer try to get him declared unfit to stand trial by way of dementia so he wouldn't be sent to prison, but he rightfully insists that he's totally competent and maintains that by killing the con-artist, he regained his entire livelihood and identity that was stolen from him.

** A CIA analyst who needed to get a list of Cuban double-agents to the Cuban Resistance Movement enlists the help of her longtime friend by paying for her breast implants and inserting the microchip into one of them. Unfortunately for her, the friend was not patriotically-inclined, since she was now part of a drug ring, and tried to blackmail the analyst for more money (which she didn't have.) She was forced to retrieve the implant (yes, in ''[[{{Squick}} that]] '' manner) or risk her friend possibly selling it and getting everyone on the list killed. [[spoiler: She gets away since the agent behind the GovernmentConspiracy to frame her drug contacts for the murder covers the whole thing up]].
** In "Coerced", a schizophrenic man kidnapps a child, kills one man, and injures another, but it all comes back to the fact that he genuinely believes the kid is his son and that the other people were trying to take the kid away to hurt him. What's more, he had at one point achieved a stabilized mental condition through medication, but the group home he had been living in had cut him off his medication and kicked him out because he had seen them kill another resident through negligence and then stage her death as a suicide, and they wanted to ensure that he wouldn't be believed if he tried to report it. In the end, the schizophrenic man is sent to a treatment facility rather than prison, and the group home staff are charged with the crimes he committed as a result of their actions.

** "Victims" is already poised for this due to the fact that [[AssholeVictim the victims are sex offenders]], but it's even more poignant when we learn that [[spoiler:the killer was actually targeting HIV-positive sex offenders specifically, because she had gotten HIV from a rape and wanted to spare potential future victims her fate.]]

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' has had a few (the shows has an unbelievably high AssholeVictim ratio), some of them even having Barnaby's sympathy.

* ''Series/WomensMurderClub'': "And the Truth Will (Sometimes) Set You Free" has a case where the murderer is [[spoiler:Kate Hammond, who killed one of the two frat boys who raped her and are attempting to gaslight her, after they sent her a mocking valentine. The main character waste no time noting that, while murder is never okay, none of them can really blame her after all the stuff the victim and his friend did to her]].

*** Ironically, in that story arc, The Boss's cruelest moment was when they didn't kill someone. It was when s/he pointlessly burned and crippled Matt's hand with fireworks for no other reason than to send a message to Maero, since he was Maero's best friend (he only did tattoos for the gang, nothing more).

* Widowmaker from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' is a cruel, cold-blooded, mass-murdering assassin who takes delight in her many killings and plunging the world in chaos, and even has no problem with the prospect of ''[[WouldHurtAChild killing innocent children]]''. However, she's also been brainwashed, suffered extensive neural reconditioning, and went through biological alternation by terrorist group [[NebulousEvilOrganization Talon]] to make her into the inhuman killer she is today. [[CryForTheDevil It becomes especially tragic]] when you learn that she used to be a perfectly sweet NiceGirl who was HappilyMarried before she was kidnapped, went through said reconditioning, and was then forced to ''kill her own husband''.

** Zig-zagged in Case 3 of ''Investigations 2'', with [[spoiler:Dane Gustavia. He killed Isaac Dover because he was going to blackmail him with the fact that he was taking pictures of the Angel's recipe, a secret that would ruin his reputation as a pastry chef. However, it's also shown that he is a literal psychopath and has no qualms about letting Jeff Masters taking the blame and completely abandoning his own child to achieve his goal to become the world's best pastry chef]].

*** The killer of Case 4, [[spoiler:Geiru Toneido]]. [[spoiler:Jealousy aside, like Rimes, Beh'leeb, and Acro above she was one of the few killers to actually regret what they've done. She was snubbed by her master unable to follow in her daddy's footsteps because Teifu wanted her to find her own calling in life away from rakugo. She hates her current job, and genuinely feels bad for what she's done. She even cries TearsOfRemorse.]]

*** Chapter 1: [[spoiler:Leon Kuwata's victim ''[[AssholeVictim started it]]'' by luring him into a trap to kill him, although since he had to break a door down to kill his attacker the level of sympathy for him goes down slightly. The manga mitigates this by implying that Leon wasn't trying to kill Sayaka Maizono, but calm her down, then he ended up [[AccidentalMurder killing her by accident]]]]. [[spoiler:As for Sakaya, she only did it because [[FamilyOfChoice her bandmates]] were in danger, and part of the reason she failed was that she didn't really want to kill anyone and hesitated at the worst time- though she loses sympathy points for trying to frame Makoto]].

*** Chapter 3: [[spoiler: A very odd example with Celestia Ludenburg, as she orchestrated the deaths of two people, with the help of an accomplice, [[{{Greed}} just to win Monokuma's ten million dollars]] so she could live in a BigFancyCastle and be waited on hand and foot by millions of men in dressed as vampires. Everyone else is disgusted that she'd orchestrate murders for a petty reason like that. This may be a double subversion, however, considering that Celeste is a ConsummateLiar so all those petty reasons may be a lie and up to the player's interpretation on whether she deserves sympathy or not, and to note, that petty reason was her secondary motive, her primary motive was simply 'getting out of the place' after she had finally crossed her DespairEventHorizon, something that others probably would agree on, and even she eventually admits her murders and tried to go FaceDeathWithDignity... and even Naegi can spot that she probably is lying on that too, she's actually terrified. That being said, for all her pettiness, she didn't even try to curse those who condemn her, which would've been in-line with the pettiness she presents. So, it's kinda ZigZagged in the end, especially once it's revealed that she wouldn't have done what she did if her memories hadn't been tampered with. That said, the manga did show her DarkAndTroubledPast to make her more sympathetic, as now her BigFancyCastle dream is just one huge compensation for the wretched self-esteem she developed as Taeko Yasuhiro.]]

*** Chapter 2's culprit, [[spoiler:Peko Pekoyama]], was revealed to be [[spoiler:the hired killer/bodyguard of fellow student Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu. Having been raised by his family since infancy to view herself as nothing but Fuyuhiko's tool, when he was about to kill Mahiru Koizumi (due to Monokuma framing her for involvement in covering up the death of his sister), Peko stepped in and killed her instead, believing this is what Fuyuhiko would want her to do. Then, after the original scapegoat for the murder was proven innocent, she deliberately sets ''herself'' up to be voted as the guilty party, because in her mind, that's the ''wrong choice''. Since she's nothing but a tool with no free will of her own, she is therefore not the murderer but the murder ''weapon'', and Fuyuhiko is the true culprit. The outcome of the trial is essentially left up to Fuyuhiko's decision: Does he take credit as the killer and be allowed to escape while everyone else is killed for voting wrong (which he had been boasting about being willing to do since the very beginning), or does he say Peko is the killer and sacrifice only her while remaining stuck on the island with everyone else? Fuyuhiko takes the latter option. Peko then says she was actually expecting him to take that option, knowing that he has a HiddenHeartOfGold beneath his yakuza tough-guy personality. She then proceeds to apolgize to the class for betraying them and murdering Mahiru implying she was remorseful over the murder and asks them to not let another senseless killing happen again. Her only request is that Fuyuhiko always remember her as a loyal and obedient tool who always stood by him, prompting Fuyuhiko to tearfully confess to Peko that he never saw her as a tool and never ''wanted'' her as a tool, [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove he just wanted her]]. [[KickTheDog Monokuma then declares Peko the killer and has her executed]] (and implies that he would have done so anyway regardless of Fuyuhiko's decision). Fuyuhiko tries to save her during her execution, only for Monokuma to trick her into accidentally injuring him instead]].

* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' this can be an interesting source of tension. Given the nature of The Machine, in which it predicts that a person will be invovled in a violent crime but doesnt give context as to their role, this trope can cause problems. It often makes the perpetrator appear to be the victim, causing the heroes to be caught off guard.
** A notable example is found in the episode Cure Te Ipsum, in which a doctor appears to be a potential victim given her habit of going to nightclubs despite her busy job. When she attracts the attention of a man who has previously commitedd a date rape, it appears that her life is in danger. In truth, she knows exactly who he is and is planning to kill him.

** In ''Literature/DeathComesAsTheEnd'', the SerialKiller is [[spoiler:TheDutifulSon]], who'd finally snapped after years of [[spoiler:being taken for granted by his father and being a HenpeckedHusband]].

** The trope is downplayed in ''Literature/AMurderIsAnnounced'', in which [[spoiler:the murderer had her early life destroyed by a medical condition which her father refused to have operated on, and then had an inheritance snatched away by her sister's untimely death. Her impersonation of her sister in order to inherit was threatened by the victim, who remembered her. She comes across as a weak and kindly WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds who was driven to murder through bad luck, her own emotional weakness, and her gradual descent into insanity. However, as Miss Marple points out, she was not really justified in her actions as others in her position and worse got back on their feet without resorting to illegal activity]].

-->'''Chief Pope:''' Excuse me. Taylor says you've got Manuel Soto's murderer?
-->'''Brenda:''' No! No, no, no, no. We only found the person who killed him.
-->'''Chief Pope:''' What did I just say?

-->'''Killer''': Who'd believe a guy like me?
-->'''Grissom''': A guy like me.

* Naoko Kirino, the titular killer of the slasher manga ''Manga/Pumpkin Night''. Sure she's a serial killer who has no issue with brutally offing anyone who gets between her and her targets. On the other hand said targets are largely unrepentantly terrible people that violently bullied her in middle school [[spoiler:and, by putting bags of acid in a pumpkin mask she was supposed to wear, are responsible for the incident at the Halloween dance that burned her face off and drove her insane]].

* Naoko Kirino, the titular killer of the slasher manga ''Pumpkin Night''. Sure she's a serial killer who has no issue with brutally offing anyone who gets between her and her targets. On the other hand said targets are largely unrepentantly terrible people that violently bullied her in middle school [[spoiler:and, by putting bags of acid in a pumpkin mask she was supposed to wear, are responsible for the incident at the Halloween dance that burned her face off and drove her insane]].

** Also, the murderer in "Killer Chat" turns out to be [[spoiler: the wife of a pedophile who had abused the couple's daughter]]. Despite the brutality of [[spoiler: her]] crimes, one can't help but sympathize with the motive.

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', Alyssa's boyfriend, Rint, in "Ganymede Elegy" shot and killed a loan shark during a scuffle with the loan shark's muscle to protect Alyssa. Jet implies at the end that he might get off on manslaughter or imperfect self-defence.

* Hiro from ‘’Anime/LilyCat’’ is wanted for the murders of three men, it turns out he killed them because they got his sister hooked on drugs and she became a prostitute who eventually died from an overdose.

* ''Film/TheRetreat2021'': Renee kills Layna and later Gavin when both are helpless. However, as they're depraves murderers who had tried to murder her and Val it's likely no one will care.

*** In "Death by Drowning", the victim was pregnant by a man who had no intention of marrying her; she was expected to marry the DoggedNiceGuy she'd dumped in his favor. [[spoiler: The DoggedNiceGuy's landlady, however, was a WidowWoman who'd survived a bad marriage and appreciated nice guys, and snapped.]]

* Scar from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Even being a ruthless SerialKiller who attempted to kill TheProtagonist isn't enough to keep him from sympathetic, given that as a genocide survivor he had lost everything he held dear. He also admits that he feels horribly guilty for [[spoiler:killing Winry's parents, because they were innocents and had saved him]].

[[folder:Film]]

** In the first game, Case 4 killer [[spoiler:Yanni Yogi, who killed the man who [[AssholeVictim ruined his life fifteen years ago by convincing him to plead insanity]]]].

** In "Conscience", a young boy is revealed to have murdered another one in cold blood. Initially believing him to be remorseful and acting on abuse he suffered from camp, the team tries to get him to be sentenced to juvenile detention only to learn from the campers that the boy was a sociopath and that they couldn't try him as an adult unless they wanted him to walk free right then and there. The father of the murdered boy, amidst his grief, actually forgave and pitied the boy who killed his son because he also initially believed his lies about camp. As he's leaving the courthouse, the boy mockingly apologizes to the father, which causes him to realize that the boy feels no remorse -- he grabs a bailiff's gun and shoots the boy in the chest, killing him. They're able to convince a jury to acquit the father as he most likely acted on grief and rationalize to themselves that while the father might not kill again, the boy certainly would have.

** In "Conscience", a young boy is revealed to have murdered another one in cold blood. Initially believing him to be remorseful and acting on abuse he suffered from camp, the team tries to get him to be sentenced to juvenile only to learn from the campers that the boy was a sociopath and that they couldn't try him as an adult unless they wanted him to walk free right then and there. As he's leaving, the boy mockingly apologizes to his victim's father, which causes him to flip out, steal a bailiff's gun and shoot the boy in the chest, killing him. They're able to convince a jury to acquit the father as he most likely acted on grief and rationalize to themselves that while the father might not kill again, the boy certainly would have.

** ''Literature/TheMirrorCrackdFromSideToSide'': [[spoiler: the victim was unwittingly responsible for the murderer's only biological child being born with birth defects]].
** ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'': [[spoiler: the murderers end up getting away with it after Poirot figures out their crime. It helps that Casetti had very much duped the system into ''not'' putting him on death row for the Daisy Armstrong nightmare, and the conspirators were rectifying that distortion]].

* An ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' issue features Doc Samson dealing with the vigilante Crazy Eight/Leslie Anne Shappe, who has been sentenced to the electric chair after murdering a senator. Not until after she has been executed, does Samson discover the motive for the murder. She killed the man because he had been beating his wife, who was an old friend of Crazy Eight from high school. The wife actually killed (or helped kill) her husband, the vigilante actually took the blame and died in her place, knowing it was unlikely that the wife would get a fair trial given her husband's position of power and the powerful friends he had that helped cover up the abuse. Crazy Eight sacrificed her life for her friend.

** A rather meta episode featured none other than Creator/WilliamShatner as the star of an ''anti-Columbo''-likeShowWithinAShow. At the start, he talks about how his show makes the murderer sympathetic in some episodes. Lo and behold, the Shatner character then becomes a sympathetic murderer (at least, that's what ''he'' thought).

* ''{{Series/Misfits}}'': When the gang's killings aren't in self-defense or defense of others, it's either {{accidental murder}} or really hard to feel bad about it (generally due to an {{asshole victim}}).

** A rather meta episode featured none other than Creator/WilliamShatner as the star of an ''anti-Columbo''-like [[ShowWithinAShow Show Within The Show]]. At the start, he talks about how his show makes the murderer sympathetic in some episodes. Lo and behold, the Shatner character then becomes a sympathetic murderer (at least, that's what ''he'' thought).

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' occasionally has these. You sometimes wind up feeling at least some degree of sympathy for many of the quote-unquote "monster" or "antagonist" of the episode, even though Mulder and Scully are tasked with taking it/them down.

** "Victims" is already poised for this due to the fact that [[AssholeVictim the victims are sex offenders]], but it's even more poigniant when we learn that [[spoiler:the killer was actually targeting HIV-positive sex offenders specifically, because she had gotten HIV from a rape and wanted to spare potential future victims her fate.]]

** The father from "Paternity", who found out his wife was having an affair and her lover was the real father of his son. He [[BerserkButton snaps]] and goes PapaWolf on her when she intends to divorce him and take her son away from him. It's even speculated that, had she divorced him, he'd still have to pay alimony and child support without having any parental rights whatsoever, despite not loving his son any less because of the reveal.

*** Chapter 2: [[spoiler:Mondo Owada didn't even commit murder; his crime was ''manslaughter'', as he murdered the victim in a rage-fueled blackout when said victim inadvertently pressed his BerserkButton while Mondo was in a ''very'' bad headspace. He took the time to mess with the crime scene to cover up his victim's "[[DudeLooksLikeALady big]] [[WholesomeCrossdresser secret]]". That, and he makes no attempt to escape being tied to a motorcycle for Monokuma's execution, [[FaceDeathWithDiginity accepting the punishment for his crime]]]].

* The majority of killers in the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' games manage to be this even when their victims are total saints, seeing as they're all high school students forced to play a DeadlyGame [[spoiler:on [[ImmoralRealityShow TV]]]]. The only real exception is BigBad Monokuma for being the mastermind behind their predicament.

*** [[spoiler: A straighter example would be her accomplice Hifumi Yamada, who killed Kiyotaka Ishimaru only because Celes made a FalseRapeAccusation against him and takes advantage of the LoveTriangle both men had with [[BenevolentAI Alter Ego]] Once again, the biggest sympathy draw in this case would be that he wouldn't have done it if Junko hadn't stolen the memories of his school life with his friends, something he tragically only remembers as he is dying]].