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10[[quoteright:350:[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8284420c_8545_4a39_865f_4499f95fb412.png]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:350:"Witness! You can't just say "hello" and expect us to get anywhere! I want you to ''testify''!"]]
12
13->'''Lt. Randall Disher:''' Now he's afraid that she'll identify him.\
14'''Adrian Monk:''' How?\
15'''Lt. Randall Disher:''' She could bark at him.
16-->-- ''Series/{{Monk}}'', "Mr. Monk and the Dog"
17
18
19A specific {{Unconventional Courtroom Tactic|s}}. An animal is called to the stand to testify. It seems that in fictional courts, [[LoopholeAbuse there is no rule against that]].
20
21Even though most all animals cannot speak ''any'' human language, the lawyer will still find a way to prove a crucial point from the animal's behaviour.
22
23As the page image and the name imply, the two most common animals by far to get hit with this trope are dogs and parrots, although there are plenty of other animals that have been seen in the witness stand in fictionland as well.
24
25Not related to TropeyTheWonderDog in any way. Compare PollyWantsAMicrophone. Certain instances of NotInFrontOfTheParrot might lead to this. See also ThisBearWasFramed.
26
27----
28!!Examples:
29
30[[foldercontrol]]
31
32[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
33* A close variant in ''Manga/MariaTheVirginWitch''. While visiting a town, Maria passes through a square where a boar is being tried for murder, having apparently killed a child. It's clearly intended to be a KangarooCourt, and when they return later, the boar is hanging from a gallows.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Comic Books]]
37* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': In one of Angus' short stories, a FunnyBackgroundEvent involves a lawyer telling a crook that a goldfish is going to testify, with the crook admitting he'd tried to kill it... by drowning.
38* ''ComicBook/YoungbloodJudgmentDay'': Toby "Skipper" King eventually calls to the stand Giganthro, a member of the time-travelling League of Infinity. Giganthro is a mutated caveman incapable of speaking any modern human language, though he understands well enough. Thankfully, team leader Zayla Zarn provides translation for his testimony.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Fan Works]]
42* An odd case in the ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' AlternateUniverseFic ''Fanfic/{{Loophole}}''. In this setting, although trolls are still nonhumans with human-level intelligence,[[note]]in canon, they'd probably argue that they're smarter than humans, but in this AU that's not shown,[[/note]] their legal and social status is somewhere between "pet" and "dangerous wild animal". So when Vriska is called up to the stand to testify about being used in a fighting ring, there's a bit of a kerfuffle.
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
46* The bees from ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie''. They can actually talk, but the court had apparently not stopped to confirm that beforehand. When Barry is called to make his opening statements he starts by just making buzzing sounds as a joke.
47[[/folder]]
48
49[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50* In the first ''Film/AirBud'' movie, Buddy is brought into the courtroom during the trial determining who owns him. The judge is notably not pleased with this, but reluctantly allows it so long as Buddy sits quietly and behaves himself. Buddy proceeds to bark every time the judge uses his gavel. Eventually, the judge gets so fed up with the case that he accepts Arthur Chaney's suggestion to [[LetHimChoose allow Buddy to choose which owner he preferred]].
51* In ''Film/{{Bingo}}'', the title circus dog is called as a witness in a trial. His testimony causes an argument from the defense over whether a "dog point" legally counted as indicating the accused.
52* The climax of the movie ''Film/BornToBeWild'' has the titular female gorilla being called to testify about the conditions she's forced to live in. She does with the help of a sign language translator.
53* In Film/TheThreeStooges short subject, ''Film/DisorderInTheCourt'', a parrot's courtroom "find the letter!" solves the crime. Especially since the letter's tied around the parrot's foot.
54* Played for laughs in the 1967 ''Film/DoctorDolittle.'' The authorities are questioning whether the Doctor is sane and can ''really'' talk to animals. One of Dr. Dolittle's moves is to put the judge's ''dog'' on the stand! (Did the judge have five or six pieces of pie?)
55* The talking "dictabird" in ''Film/TheFlintstones'' is treated as a powerful witness against the CorruptCorporateExecutive villain. The villain dies a KarmicDeath rather than ever making it to trial, but apparently there is no reason why the bird couldn't have testified. (Something of a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the ways that similar animal-tools are treated on the cartoon, in which a talking dinosaur will make some joke about its situation, but having all these talking animals around never becomes a plot point, nor is there really any communication going on between the human characters and the animals they use.)
56* ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall'': Played for laughs in a ShowWithinAShow, where Sarah Marshall plays an animal psychic detective.
57* ''Film/TheHourOfThePig'': During the climactic court procedure, a pig is offered the chance to confess to killing a boy by squealing twice, and gets jabbed from behind to cause it to make such sounds.
58* In the 1994 remake of ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'', the prosecution brings in a reindeer as a "witness," challenging Mr. Kringle to make it fly. Kringle admits that he can't--"he only flies on Christmas Eve!" Cue laughter.
59-->'''Judge:''' Now will someone please remove the wit- the ''animal'' from the courtroom!
60[[/folder]]
61
62[[folder:Literature]]
63* A variant occurs in a Creator/IsaacAsimov short story, where US Robotics is on trial after one of their robots supposedly deliberately screwed up an important paper it was preparing for publication.[[note]]Performing the duties of a copyeditor and such.[[/note]] They request that the robot be brought to court to testify (which has no precedent and requires most of the story to resolve), and when it testifies, the claimant stands up and angrily announces that he told it to shut up...before realizing that [[BluffingTheMurderer he really shouldn't have said that]]...
64* In the ChivalricRomance ''Literature/{{Bisclavret}},'' the main character has been {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed by his wife and the knight that she has taken as her new husband. This strangely intelligent wolf is taken in as a royal pet, and acts perfectly tame until it suddenly attacks the adulterous knight; later, he attacks the wife as well. The king and his advisers investigate this odd behavior, discover the truth and return him to human form, restoring his barony and exiling his betrayers.
65* The David Sedaris essay "A Can of Worms" is about how he overheard two men in a café wishing the nematodes that survived the space shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster could talk, so that they could tell us what went wrong.
66-->It sounded crazy, but I remember thinking the exact same thing about the akita in the O.J. case. "Put it on the stand, let's hear what it's got to say!" It was one of those ideas that, just for a split second, seemed entirely logical -- the one solution that nobody had thought of.
67* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/{{Catseye|1961}}'', the authorities will have the {{Uplifted Animal}}s under probes to give evidence about espionage. Then they will kill them. Or so Zul argues, telling Troy that death is a MercyKill.
68* In ''[[Literature/{{Chalion}} The Curse of Chalion]]'', an animal is used to reveal the Gods' judgement. To determine the truth of an accusation against a character, a sacred crow of the [[TheTrickster Bastard]] is brought in and told to fly to the truthful party. The crow in question is one that Cazaril had fed and tried to teach to say his name, and which the Gods deliberately sent to be the person making the selection.
69* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Vetinari's dog Wuffles in ''Literature/TheTruth'' is viewed as a potential witness. It helps that the City Watch has a werewolf on duty to translate. There is also a reference to a parrot being in witness protection, living life as a large budgerigar.
70** According to Mr. Slant, a zombie lawyer who's over 300 years old and therefore knows most of the city's legal history, other animals have been put on trial as actual defendants. Including ''a swarm of bees''! That's Ankh-Morpork for you.[[note]]This can actually happen in real life, at least in the US, though it's a bit different than what you're probably imagining ... it's mainly a shorthand form of "v. John Doe, an unidentified owner of (thing)".[[/note]]
71* In ''Literature/TheDogsOfBabel'', a man goes through extreme (surgical) means to get his dog to speak as it was the only witness to his wife's death. It never mentions a court, though.
72** Actually, the man doesn't go through with the surgical procedure on his dog, but instead researches (to a near ridiculous extent) another man who surgically altered his dog. Not wanting to go quite to this extreme, he looks into other methods to teach his dog to talk.
73* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden's dog actually could, and did, testify at the end of ''Literature/TurnCoat''. And his testimony was accepted. It helps that he's a "Temple Dog" -- a magical scion of a mortal canine and a Foo dog that can detect evil and is as intelligent as a human. The court was also made up of wizards who could verify that Mouse was as intelligent as he was claimed to be.
74* ''Literature/JudgeDee'': In ''The Chinese Bell Murders'', the judge uses ''inanimate objects'' to testify: Having found well-brushed straw mats in a suspect's home, he has them vigorously beaten over a clean sheet. This causes a small amount of salt to fall out, giving the judge cause to arrest the man for smuggling salt (as part of a ConfessToALesserCrime gambit that leads to the otherwise untouchable criminal's execution).
75* Not a criminal trial, but similar: at the end of ''Literature/OnAPaleHorse'', we learn that Zane's performance as Death has been found to be excellent. The testimony of Mortis, his horse, is crucial to Zane's passing the evaluation.
76* In Creator/JamesHSchmitz's Literature/TelzeyAmberdon story "Undercurrents", a dog is placed into a telepathic probe machine during a court hearing to find out who implanted it with a kill command to try and use it as a murder weapon against its owner. It's stated that while it's not common, animals are regularly used as witnesses in this manner when it's useful to do so. Subverted in that in this particular case the dog didn't actually know anything useful, but the protagonist blackmailed the machine operator into [[FramingTheGuiltyParty providing a fake reading]] that nailed the actual culprits to the wall.
77* In ''Literature/TheVoyagesOfDoctorDolittle'', a dog called as a witness saves an innocent man from a murder charge, thanks to the doctor's ability to understand AnimalTalk, which allows him to serve as an interpreter. First though the doctor proves he can speak to animals by interrogating the judge's dog about what was the judge doing last evening (a testimony the judge hastily interrupts, embarrassed.)
78* In the world of Literature/{{Xanth}} where MixAndMatchCritters and sentient animals are the norm rather than the exception, even its inhabitants think the justice system is going too far when Roxanne Roc is brought to trial for [[FelonyMisdemeanor cursing within the "hearing" range of the Simurgh's (as yet unhatched) chick]], and she is induced to testify against herself. [[spoiler:As it turns out, it was a SecretTestOfCharacter over whether the people of Xanth would choose ToBeLawfulOrGood. The Demon Xanth, who rules Xanth and gives it magic powers, bet "Lawful", whereas another demon bet "Good".]]
79[[/folder]]
80
81[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
82* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' Michael calls his brother GOB's puppet Franklin on the stand, then reveals that inside the puppet is a tape recording he made of the prosecuting attorney offering him a deal, which results in a mistrial. In a token gesture towards realism the puppet was actually on the witness list because of GOB's efforts. It also helped that it was a mock trial with Judge Reinhold as the judge.
83* Used by the [[WitchHunt Witchsmeller Pursuivant]] in ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'', who called Blackadder's ''horse'' to the stand as part of the KangarooCourt, referring to him as "Satin [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness the Loquacious]]". After the horse whinnies when asked a question...
84-->'''Harry:''' I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Was that a yea or a nay?\
85'''Witchsmeller:''' [[{{Pun}} It was a neigh]], My Lord, but I don't believe a word of it. I call for a recess. He may think he can fool us, [[ColdBloodedTorture but we have ways of making him talk]]!
86* On an episode of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', the murder victim's dog helped prove that the murderer had been to the victim's house by scratching his car door. Fortunately the dog had left unique scratch marks because it was missing a claw.
87* [[VigilanteJustice Vigilante justice variation]]: This is how Series/{{Dexter}} finds out that [[spoiler:Leon, and not the gang's no. 2,]] was responsible for [[spoiler:Brother Sam's death]] in season 6. [[spoiler:The dog didn't bark at the assailant, as seen on the security footage. The dog normally barks at everybody.]] Of course, since he kills [[spoiler:Leon]] by [[spoiler:drowning him in the ocean]], it may count as CharacterDevelopment.
88* ''Series/DivorceCourt'': At least one episode of the 1980s incarnation, where the custody of a dog was at stake, saw Judge William B. Keene suggest that the dog be brought into court and tell, in his own way, whom he wanted to stay with. He chose the plaintiff, a woman who had accused her husband of animal cruelty.
89* ''Series/EliStone'' has a gay chimp on the stand. Yes. Really.
90* ''Series/{{Hooperman}}'' used the variant where the defendant shouts in court, "I should have killed the dog, too!" -- thus proving his own guilt.
91* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': In "[=McPoyle=] vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century", Charlie, in an effort to prove Bill Ponderosa is not responsible for Liam [=McPoyle=]'s missing eyeball, forces the [=McPoyle=] family bird to take the witness stand. In a twist, it's with [[ThePerryMasonMethod the intention of proving the animal to be the]] ''[[ThePerryMasonMethod real]]'' [[ThePerryMasonMethod culprit]], as it apparently has a history of mutilating its owners. [[CloudCuckoolander Charlie's attempts to force it to confess (despite it not even being a talking variety of bird)]] obviously fail, but it does wind up generating enough reasonable doubt to get the case thrown out when it [[spoiler:attacks the plaintiff's attorney and gouges out ''his'' eye, too.]]
92* ''{{Series/JAG}}'': In Season 5 "Front and Center" Colonel Sarah [=MacKenzie=] is defending a crewman on drug charges found on him by an old drug-sniffing dog, the client claims it was just a potent breed of oregano not marijuana. As the dog is the only reason for the charges, as the handler's testing equipment wasn't working and they destroyed the product already, Mac requests the dog verify his abilities to the court. She has ten identical bags filled by an outside independent lab, nine with the oregano the client claims to have had and one with the marijuana. The judge was skeptical, but Mac notes that these odds are in the dog's favor as normally the dog must sniff something out in a crowded airport with hundreds of bags in movement. It is permitted and the old dog fails the test by selecting an oregano-filled bag. The case is dismissed and client freed.
93* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': Jack [=McCoy=] has also brought a dog into a courtroom in "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS12E1WhoLetTheDogsOut Who Let The Dogs Out?]]". The dog's owners are accused of manslaughter by recklessness because the dog mauled a woman to death, and their defense is that the dog is usually gentle and well-behaved, so they couldn't have anticipated his actions. In response, [=McCoy=] has the dog brought in (on a muzzle, completely under the control of animal experts) to prove the dog is clearly aggressive by nature and that keeping it made them responsible for the people it killed. The Judge does [[WhatTheHellHero call [=McCoy=] on it]] and forces [=McCoy=] to make a plea deal or he will declare a mistrial ([=McCoy=] agrees on the condition that the defendants accept a two-year minimum sentence; they try to protest, but the judge then pushes ''them'' to take it.)
94* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "Rush to Judgement", Mac arranges to put a parakeet on the stand, with the elderly women who owned it acting as interpreter. In reality, the woman was the one who had witnessed the crime, but was too nervous to testify without using the bird as an intermediary.
95* ''Series/{{Matlock}}'': Matlock uses a victim's dog to prove the "witness" beat the dog within an inch of its life while committing the crime of which his client was accused of (as the dog went ballistic at the sight of the witness). He then shows the fallacy of the trope afterwards by revealing that the dog was a trained attack dog, and that it just goes ballistic.
96* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0653533/plotsummary "It's a Dog's Life."]] A dog was trained by a murderer to press a button on command, causing someone to be crushed to death by a security gate. After it was brought into court to show how it committed the act, it went over to the murderer, proving he was the one who trained it.
97* Played with in the ''Franchise/PerryMason'' television episode "The Case of the Perjured Parrot." The title bird (voiced by Creator/MelBlanc) was found alongside its owner's body, saying one phrase over and over -- and while not technically called to the stand, it was introduced in evidence. Perry does "cross examine" the parrot and proves this bird was a look-alike substitute for the murder victim's pet. Somewhat justified in that it was only an inquest rather than an actual criminal trial.
98** Also counts as an InvokedTrope, [[spoiler:as the parrot was trained to say that phrase in order to frame a family member]]. The substitution was proven because the bird didn't know some phrases the murder victim's pet did, and wouldn't do the finger mounting trick the murder victim's pet knew how to do.
99* In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Tuvok used a dog as a rebuttal witness in defense of Tom Paris (successfully, it should be noted).
100** And in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Kirk used some tribbles to identify the Klingon infiltrator. Not an example ''in'' a court, but it did lead to an (offscreen) trial after the end of the episode. The Tribbles were really acting as an EvilDetectingDog, so they probably weren't needed.
101* Averted in ''To Catch A Killer'' (1992). The police notice that the tracker dog has taken the 'mourning position' over [[PunkInTheTrunk the trunk]] of SerialKiller John Wayne Gacy's car, which the dog did in a previous murder case. However they're told that in the previous case, it was not allowed as evidence.
102%%* Played with in the ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' episode ''Past Imperfect''.
103* In ''Series/TwinPeaks'', Waldo the [[NotInFrontOfTheParrot mynah bird]], the pet of a key suspect in the central murder investigation, was taken into police custody for this exact reason. [[spoiler: He was assassinated by another suspect to prevent this from happening, although ultimately, nothing the bird saw could have lead to the real killer.]]
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Music Videos]]
107* Music/GoodCharlotte's video for ''Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous'' shows this during a music interlude.
108-->'''Lawyer:''' Is it true that the defense, treated you ''like a dog?''\
109'''Dog:''' Rurr...
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Podcasts]]
113* On ''Radio/TheRickyGervaisShow'', resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Karl Pilkington tells a story, where a homicide in an office was supposedly solved by putting the suspects in the same room as a ''houseplant'' from the scene of the crime. The houseplant supposedly "reacted" to the murderer's presence.
114[[/folder]]
115
116[[folder:Radio]]
117* One of ''Radio/ThisAmericanLife'''s annual poultry-themed episodes featured the story of a lawyer who wanted to force a psychiatrist to play TabletopGame/TicTacToe against a chicken in court. She was representing a mentally ill and retarded man on death row, and the prosecution was using this psychiatrist's testimony of having been beaten by him at tic-tac-toe as evidence that he was mentally competent enough to be executed. She remembered that as a kid she'd seen tic-tac-toe-playing chickens at fairs and decided to try to get permission to bring in such a chicken to prove a point about the level of intelligence required to best the psychiatrist. In her words, "Who can doubt a chicken? You can't. A chicken isn't going to lie. Chickens have integrity."
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder:Theater]]
121* OlderThanFeudalism: In ''The Wasps'' by Creator/{{Aristophanes}}, Anticleon uses a mock trial involving his pet dogs as an allegory to prove a point about the Athenian judicial system. Then the dogs actually start testifying. Then again, the defendant is also a dog (accused of stealing cheese). Since the dogs ''can'' talk, the court goes one further by calling mute inanimate objects to witness.
122[[/folder]]
123
124[[folder:Video Games]]
125* A bug in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' (now patched) merits an honorable mention. When vampires were introduced, they added a game mechanic in which dwarves would accuse each other of attacking and draining the blood from a dwarf who'd just been found dead, and the player would then have to try to determine which dwarf was truly responsible. Thanks to an unfortunate oversight, literally anyone in the room at the time the murder was committed could end up being accused of being the culprit, including babies and livestock.
126** With the addition of criminal conspiracies in v0.47 and updates to the justice system to include an interrogation mechanic, [[https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=11333 the bug is back]], letting you order animals to be interrogated by the fortress's law enforcement.
127* The justice system in VideoGame/LiberalCrimeSquad doesn't bother with trial competency. Even when animal rights are at their lowest, dogs and genetic monsters caught in the act will be criminalized as humans, rather than, say, get sent to the pound.
128* In a since-removed bug in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', the player could get arrested by the town guards if a horse or chicken saw the deed. Even if it is your own horse. Apparently, guards appreciate testimony [[{{Pun}} straight from the horse's mouth]].
129* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] witnessing a crime committed by the player is what triggers a police response. Confusingly, players firing a gun while out alone in the wilderness will find themselves getting a Wanted level. Dataminers eventually discovered that the game's ''animals'' can "call" the police.
130* In the sixth mission of ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'', "You Better Watch Out...", one target's dog, which normally follows him around his suite (if not taken care of), will be listed as a witness if it sees you make the hit. This means it somehow gives police a better composite sketch...
131[[/folder]]
132
133[[folder:Visual Novels]]
134* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
135** The trope image comes from Case 1-4 in [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney the first game]], where Phoenix calls a witness's pet parrot to the stand after it is suggested as a joke, in hopes of using things the parrot was trained to say in order to make the case that the parrot's owner was involved in the [[ThatOneCase DL-6]] incident. Despite the entire court being utterly bewildered by the move ([[spoiler:[[CrazyPrepared and the prosecutor having actually planned for Phoenix to be that desperate]], and so ''retraining the parrot'' the previous night to not say the most damning phrase, "don't forget DL-6"]]), the parrot's testimony does manage to turn the case right around.
136** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Ultimate]] VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', Phoenix Wright is able to "cross-examine" and prove the guilt of [[VideoGame/{{Okami}} Amaterasu]] (a wolf, though one who's [[GodInHumanForm the physical incarnation of a sun goddess]]) and [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Rocket Raccoon]] (a raccoon, albeit a talking alien raccoon).
137** In the DLC case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', he defends an ''orca''. [[spoiler:After the orca's trainer Sasha becomes the suspect, Phoenix later cross-examines the orca for trying to get a connection to both the current case and the events one year earlier. It goes as well as you'd expect.]] Sasha says she came to Phoenix for help specifically because she had heard about the parrot incident above -- she took the fact that he called a parrot as a witness to mean that he'd be the only lawyer willing to go out on a limb and take up an animal's defense.
138** ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVsPhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' sees the triumphant return of this trope. Worth noting that it wasn't Phoenix's idea this time, it was a witness's. At least this time he had someone who SpeaksFluentAnimal to help the parrot understand what the question is.
139--->'''Phoenix:''' The defence summons its new witness, Mister Cracker the Parrot!\
140[...]\
141'''Judge:''' The court sees the situation as follows...\
142'''Judge:''' The witnesses' testimonies do not hold together. In fact, they are as erratic as that bard's songs.\
143'''Judge:''' I cannot see this trial getting any more confusing. Very well... The defence may summon this avian witness!
144** Cheerfully subverted but referenced in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'', in which the trope is used by name, when the Judge asks if Phoenix is going to make Ahlbi's dog testify. Phoenix hurriedly says this wasn't his intent... (this time).
145** To date, the canon games have allowed Phoenix to cross-examine a parrot, a puppet, a two-way-radio, two ghosts, a whale, and a robot. Only 4 of the above were aware they were being cross-examined.
146*** By ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', when he calls the aforementioned robot to the stand, Edgeworth's response basically amounts to "Why not? You've called just about everything else."
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Webcomics]]
150* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Blackwing (a raven) is called as a character witness in a trial. Blackwing actually [[PollyWantsAMicrophone can speak]], but at this point in the story, he doesn't speak Common in V's presence. A demon cockroach (who can and does talk) is a witness as well.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Web Original]]
154* In ''WebVideo/AssistMe'', [[VideoGame/{{Okami}} Amaterasu]] (played by a male Pomeranian) speaks out against Doctor Doom in court for [[PokeThePoodle eating her treats.]]
155-->'''Doom:''' What?! Doom was curious!
156[[/folder]]
157
158[[folder:Western Animation]]
159* ''[[Film/AceVentura Ace Ventura: The Animated Series]]'':
160** In a similar case, somebody abducts a dog hoping to make it reveal the secrets of its master, a high-ranking officer. All the machine that reads the dog's mind catches is the dog playing with the officer. Ace points out to the villain that dogs don't care about military secrets.
161** Another episode has Ace's monkey, Spike, signaling that he saw a beast steal a hunting dog, but Ace thought Spike was letting superstition go to his head and pretended that Spike only said that in hopes of getting a cookie. When asked about what made Spike change his statement, Ace said he gave Spike ''two'' cookies.
162* Not a courtroom, but as Guitierrez is trying to replicate the incident that created ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'', the hero's alter-ego Dexter explains that the keyboard sequence was created by his cat walking on it. Then it's shown the mooks had captured the cat to interrogate him. An animal psychologist had even been brought to help, but all he could get out of the cat was "He says he's very sad."
163* In the ''WesternAnimation/GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer'' Christmas special, the main character, Jake calls Santa's (talking) Reindeer to the stand. At one point he also insists that his dog bring a piece of surprise evidence into the trial for no discernible reason.
164* Used in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' where Franchise/ScoobyDoo makes a cameo appearance.
165-->'''Scooby:''' ''[about Mandy]'' She made fun of the way I talk. I mean, look at me! I'm a stinkin' dog!
166** The trial (over friendship custody of Grim) also included testimony from [[ContinuityNod one of Billy's former pets]], the fish Lil' Porkchop, who testified that he was owned by Billy for "Eleven minutes" (the runtime of an episode), and they were the worst eleven minutes of his life. Another former pet was mentioned (Wiggy Jiggy Jed), but only showed up in a picture. Billy's continuous (and non-speaking) pets, Milkshakes the cat and Mr. Snuggles the hamster (who kickstarted the whole show in the first place) are not mentioned and do not get to testify.
167* Taken completely literally in the CourtroomEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks''. The dog hating Mrs. Demson is trying to sue someone who wrecked her lawn furniture and Martha (a talking dog) is the only witness.
168* The cats from "WesternAnimation/PlutosJudgementDay". Curiously enough, the defendant is [[WesternAnimation/PlutoThePup Pluto]], a dog.
169 * In ''WesternAnimation/RoadRovers'', this was the basis of an entire episode. Of course, they had phlebotinum that could make a dog into a sapient humanoid.
170* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Angelica sues her parents over making her eat broccoli. Her witness? A stuffed animal. The defense objects, but the judge lets the toy testify anyway. It was AllJustADream, of course.
171* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
172** In "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot", Snake winds up being freed on a technicality due to improperly filed paperwork. This was because said paperwork was filed by the police dog responsible for his capture, Santa's Little Helper, and consists of paw print markings on an official form.
173** Also in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" (Part 2), the police begin to interrogating two witnesses to the shooting. Problem is that the two who saw the crime were Santa's Little Helper and Maggie, which they even lampshaded the fact that they're not talking.
174* Taken to another level in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Plankton vs. Krabs", in which Plankton sues for damages (and the Krabby Patty secret formula) after slipping at the Krusty Krab. At one point [=SpongeBob=], as Krabs' lawyer, cross-examines a mop. "So it was ''you'' that made the floor slippery?"
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177[[folder:Real Life]]
178* A historical variation with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_trial animal trials]] in medieval and early modern Europe, where non-human creatures were forced to act as defendants in a courtroom.
179* There was an Creator/AnimalPlanet show called ''Animal Witness'', where animals or something about them was used as an evidence in a crime. One case, for example, had dead bugs in the rental car's grate to prove the suspect never drove from Ohio at the time.
180* Lawyer Bob Ingersoll notes that [[DefiedTrope this isn't legally possible]] in the United States [[http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/law/back20021001.shtml here]].
181** An animal or its reactions could, however, theoretically be entered as ''evidence'' in situations similar to the French case below, but it is likely that a judge would be highly unamused at the idea of bringing the actual animal into the courtroom when a video would suffice, and the prosecution would have to establish that the dog did not simply bark aggressively at, say, ''all'' people who are bald or who smell like their pet cat (which happens).
182* [[http://tinyurl.com/a63yaz In late 2008]] a dog was called into a French court to see if it reacted to a man accused of murdering his owner. The dog barked furiously at the suspect. The dog's name? [[YouMeddlingKids Scooby]].
183* In French legend, Aubry de Montdidier, a knight of King Charles V, was murdered by Richard de Macaire. The only witness was Montdidier's dog. In court the dog reacted violently to Macaire, leading the king to order [[TrialByCombat a duel between Macaire and the dog]]. The dog won, and Macaire confessed to the murder and was hanged. The murder was said to take place in 1371.
184** Very much TruthInTelevision. Medieval manuals on trials by combat include provisions for fighting against a dog.
185* In the United States, bloodhounds and other dogs capable of following a scent trail are legally allowed to "testify". (All police dogs on the K9 units are considered to be uniformed officers. Their human handlers sometimes have a little bit of creative fun "scribing" the reports on their behalf.)
186** On the other side of the Pond, police in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom were called by prosecutors to give a witness statement from "PC Peach", who was actually PD Peach, one of the force's dogs. [[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9876199/Police-under-investigation-over-dogs-witness-statement.html One of the officers wrote up a statement as Peach]], stating, "I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach."
187* Not necessarily testify, but in Boston, [[http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-01-17/entertainment/27087837_1_jury-duty-cat-feline-friend a cat was once called in for jury duty]].
188* An apparently WrongGenreSavvy burglar killed a goldfish because [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/14/teen-burglar-kills-goldfi_n_822845.html he didn't want to leave any witnesses.]]
189* ''The Book of Lists'' has assembled over twenty cases, including many where the animals are put on the stand for [[BestialityIsDepraved buggery]].
190* In 1994, when OJ Simpson's ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered, there was speculation that her Akita may have witnessed the crime. With that, there was further speculation that the dog would be brought into court to see if it would react violently to OJ, thus proving him to be the killer. Unfortunately, this tactic was never employed. One wonders whether or not this would have helped prove OJ guilty.
191* Fear of this trope was what prompted one [[StupidCrooks David Carlile]] of Berkshire, England to kidnap and sell the African gray parrot that belonged to the owner of the house he was burgling in 2005 [[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/08/parrot_kidnap/ (story here)]]. When police identified and arrested him in connection with the burglary, he reportedly said “Parrots can talk and I didn’t want it [[StockBritishPhrases grassing me up!]]”
192* During the Salem Witch Trials, [[HangingJudge some judges]] were so keen to find parties guilty, they'd allow anything from animals to corpses as witnesses. For instance, one man was accused of causing a one-eyed pig to be born on the [[SarcasmMode pretty damning]] basis that he also had one eye. The pig was a witness at his 'trial'.
193* There was a story involving a MurderSuicide where the killer had shot her own dog (who survived). Since the dog was pretty shy around people he didn't know, was shot in the shoulder, and tried to climb on the veterinary doctor who took care of him, something the vet mentioned he only did with people he knew, it meant that either the shooter was shooting while prone (who does that in a house?) or that the dog knew the shooter and was trying to do so as he was shot. The motive was a case of adultery, and the gun was later found under a piece of furniture (the maid had panicked upon seeing the bodies and accidentally kicked it there).
194* During the ReignOfTerror in France, one parrot was put on the stand to testify regarding its owners' royalist sympathies. It kept repeating "[[NotInFrontOfTheParrot Long live the King! Long live the priests! Long live the nobles!]]" in open court, and they got the guillotine.
195* Maybe not as ''witnesses'', but animals (and even inanimate objects) can be named as ''defendants'' in a trial as a kind of shorthand for "v. John Doe, unidentified owner of (object)". This leads to cases like the (real) "Harrods Ltd. v. Sixty Internet Domain Names." A number of actually quite consequential cases have this form due to quirks of American procedural law, including ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._The_Amistad United States v. The Amistad]]'' (in which the Supreme Court freed the slaves on an illegal slave ship, as dramatized in ''Film/{{Amistad}}''), ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Book_Called_Ulysses United States v. One Book Called Ulysses]]'' (in which the Southern District of New York held that ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'' was not obscene--or more precisely that its literary merit outweighed its obscene content), and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Package_of_Japanese_Pessaries United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries]]'' (in which the Second Circuit held that existing law did not prohibit a licensed doctor from ordering birth-control equipment). More comically, but no less legally relevant, is the case of ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Ninety-Five_Barrels_Alleged_Apple_Cider_Vinegar United States v. Ninetyfive Barrels Alleged Apple Cider Vinegar]]'' which established that the term "apple cider vinegar" implies that the product is made from fresh apples, and vinegar made from reconstituted dried apples must be labeled as such.
196* In the early stages of the Laci Peterson disappearance, either her husband Scott or one of his relatives insisted on bringing in a dog psychic to question their Golden Retriever, [=McKenzie=], as to what happened to her (as he was allegedly with her when she was abducted on Christmas Eve). This of course infuriated her mother, who felt that actually looking for ''Laci'' was more pertinent than spending days dealing with a psychic and deciphering any "testimony" that the dog would have. Needless to say, they didn't go through with it.
197* Although they didn't testify in court, parrots have provided key evidence for the police in murder trials. In 2017, a Michigan court convicted a woman of killing her husband (and attempting to commit suicide). The turning point in the case came when police stated that they had a "witness", then played back a recording of the parrot imitating ''the entire argument that led up to the killing''. She confessed almost immediately.
198* Likewise, in India in 2014, a woman and her dog were killed and their house burgled. Her grieving husband noticed that the parrot seemed traumatized by the events, and recited the names of relatives and acquaintances whom he suspected might be responsible. When the parrot reacted violently to one name by screaming it repeatedly - and did so again in front of the police - they brought the suspect in for questioning. He ended up confessing to the crime and, together with an accomplice, was sentenced to life in prison.
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