History Main / VigilanteExecution

->'''Det Kellerman''': ''(shooting [[spoiler:Luther Mahoney]] in cold blood)'' [[BondOneLiner You have the right to remain silent]].
-->-- ''[[HomicideLifeOnTheStreet Homicide: Life on the Street]]''

'''Examples:'''

* Detective John Hartigan from SinCity tried to kill Junior Rourke as opposed to arresting him for this very reason. Unfortunately, it didn't quite happen as planned.

* The remake of ''{{Shaft}}''. A villain dies in this manner.
** This was before he went to court a second time, tough.
* ''BatmanBegins''. Joe Chill is killed by the mob before Bruce Wayne has a chance to enact his plan of revenge in the court building hallway... Joe Chill was a dead man walking, so what is the trope called when one would-be Vigilante Executioner is beaten to the punch by another?
** More of a SubvertedTrope, really, since the person who DID manage to get to Chill first was sent by the mob to prevent Chill from testifying against Falcone.

* An episode of WalkerTexasRanger had three cops who did this to criminals they feel didn't get the punishment they deserved. It seems like they're doing a noble task until they kill a kid that really didn't do the crime they thought he did, DNA evidence exonerated him, but the cops never checked.

** Not this trope, actually. The CIA was willing to give up the suspect, but another organization was protecting him. Gibbs correctly guesses it is Mossad and gives them an ultimatum: He wants his suspect or else he will reveal the name of a deep cover Mossad agent ([[spoiler:Ari]]). The response he gets is the video feed.

* Modus operandi for {{Dexter}} Morgan. Particularly unusual in that he would have been a SerialKiller in any case, but his adoptive father Harry steered him in a "constructive" direction, and gave him pointers on how not to get caught.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* RealLife example: [[WhoShotJFK Lee Harvey Oswald]]'s assassination by Jack Ruby. Of course, there are still [[GovernmentConspiracy those who believe otherwise...]]
* Another RealLife example: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellie_Nesler Ellie Nesler.]]
* This sort of thing happens all the time in countries where war or internal strife leaves the general public vulnerable to violent crime.
** Recent examples have begun to pop up in [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/vigilante-justice-spreads_n_337479.html Mexico's on-going war]] [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11394424 on the drug cartels.]] Unfortunately, the need for due process [[http://business.highbeam.com/436103/article-1G1-125359602/two-mexico-city-police-implicated-lynching-federal rapidly becomes clear.]]

* This is [[{{Condemned}} SKX's]] MO, in a nutshell. Subverted in that he is ''exactly'' as inhumane as the killers themselves, to the point where he crosses the MoralEventHorizon.
* TalesOfVesperia: [[spoiler:Yuri Lowell, twice,]] making for a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

*** [[ViewerGenderConfusion She]] also saw that Elan was dragging him around in what equates to handcuffs, which is a fairly accurate sign that he is probably not being led to a birthday party for hugs and kittens. Though whether he deserved summary execution was not something V knew or cared about.
** Although the guy did make it clear that he was going to continue being a pain in the ass to their interests.

<<|CrimeAndPunishmentTropes|>>

* The ''LawAndOrder'' franchise loves this trope. Defendants aren't killed often, but they are gunned down ''way'' out of proportion compared to reality. What kind of security do they have at the NYC Superior Court, anyway?

** Another one: a man kills the [[CompleteMonster assassin of his child and four others]] and is sent to prison as well, despite [=McCoy=]'s efforts to bring up lesser charges. The creepy part, though? The killer's AmoralAttorney had actually ''sent him information about the other man's release'', manipulating the guy into killing the culprit so she could make herself look good by defending him (she was running for political office). [=McCoy=] and his team [[WhosLaughingNow get a]] ''[[WhosLaughingNow spectacular]]'' [[WhosLaughingNow revenge]] by foiling the last part of her XanatosGambit and getting the lawyer indicted for murder and conspiracy.

*** It's gotten to the point where it's almost a subversion for them not to have someone gunned down by the end of the episode.

** Possibly the first example in the Season One episode "The Torrents Of Greed" had Stone going out of his way to get a mob boss. After making the arrest, the mob boss makes bail, only to be gunned down by assassins. His sister put up the bail and had him killed in revenge for her husband's murder. While the detectives are glad to have him off the street, they are aware that his death will bring about more violence.

* In the season 2 finale of ''VeronicaMars'', [[spoiler:Clarence Wheedman, acting on Duncan's orders]], murders [[spoiler:Aaron Echolls]] in his hotel room after his acquittal for the murder of Lilly Kane.
* ''ThePractice'' has had a few defendants who committed these.

** Possibly the first example in the Season One episode "The Torrents Of Greed" had Stone going out of His way to get a Mob Boss.After making the arrest,He makes bail only to be Gunned down by Assassins.His sister put up the Million Dollars and had Him killed in revenge for Her husband's Murder before escaping.While the Dtectives are glad to have Him off the street,They are aware that His Death will bring about more Violence.Stone tells Schiff that He never wanted it to happen like this

** Warrick informed the father of a little girl killed in a drive by that it could have been one of the local gangsters. The father went after the guy. The real killers were some kids that he had thrown out of his youth center.

** Early in the second season of the show, the team tracks down a serial rapist, but is unable to arrest him because they have no evidence. [[spoiler: So one of the team members confronts him outside his home, gets him to confess, then guns him down with a smile on her face. She then plants a gun on his corpse, and it's ruled self-defense. However, while everyone else is supportive of her actions, the team leader doesn't buy it, and she's ultimately forced to leave the team permanently in the next episode]].

* Combine this trope with a torch-and-pitchfork mob attack, and you get how [[ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] died, at least the first time around.

** From the core series, a team of brutal home invaders had killed an ADA (can't remember which one), and they were connected to a corrupt federal agent. After going through immense pains to try and keep the agent in custody as he tries to get evidence, [=McCoy=] lets him go. However, the killers, believing he talked, gun him down in broad daylight; and the police capture them.

* Happens to Speedball towards the end of the MarvelCivilWar.

* In [[spoiler:[[TheDeparted, Sullivan manages to destroy all evidence of his crimes, so he's not even charged with anything, but Dignam still finds out what he did and kills him.]]

* In [[TheDeparted, Sullivan manages to destroy all evidence of his crimes, so he's not even charged with anything, but Dignam still finds out what he did and kills him.]]

* Happens once on {{CSI}}, when Warrick stupidly informs the husband of a victim that they suspect the man his wife was having an affair with. The husband shoots the suspect, only for it to turn out that her death was a freak accident.

** Tis was before he went to court a second time tough.

* The ''LawAndOrder'' franchise loves this trope. Defendants aren't killed often, but they are gunned down ''way'' out of proportion compared to reality. What kind of security exists at the NYC Superior Court, anyway?

* The ''LawAndOrder'' franchise loves this trope. In any given episode where a defendant gets off, you can bet he'll be dead within five feet of the courthouse. New York City apparently has the worst courtroom security of any city in the world. Sometimes, they go so far as to still be in the courtroom when they get gunned down.

** In yet another episode, a sociopathic killer child was going to be released and the victim's father shoots him.

** Another one: a man kills the assassin of his wife and child as soon as he gets out of jail and is sent to prison as well, despite [=McCoy=]'s efforts. The creepy part, though? The killer's AmoralAttorney had actually ''sent him information about the other man's release'', manipulating the guy into killing the culprit so she could make herself look good by defending him (she was running for political office). [=McCoy=] and his team [[WhosLaughingNow get a]] ''[[WhosLaughingNow spectacular]]'' [[WhosLaughingNow revenge]] by foiling the last part of her XanatosGambit and getting the lawyer indicted for murder and conspiracy.
** And ''yet another'' one, from SVU. A rather stupid teenage boy sneaks into a TV starlet's dressing room and rapes her [[DudeShesLikeInAComa when he finds her sleeping and drunk]], under the influence of a radio show host a la Howard Stern. The kid's KnightTemplarParent of a mother shoots the host when her son is found guilty.

** More of a SubvertedTrope, really, since Chill's murder was a mob hit. But if Wayne had succeeded it would have been an example of this.