Line #32 Main/MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence


1	->''"Who benefits?"''
2	-->-- '''Motto of {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s everywhere'''
3
4	When investigating a mystery or a crime, a detective has to go through a lot of steps. The detective must investigate the crime scene to figure out what happened and how it was done, and suspects are identified based on why they want to do this.
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6	Sometimes the suspect's motive is enough to incriminate him, even if no concrete evidence is presented or it doesn't add up. Quite possibly, an AmateurSleuth might have gone on a wild guessing spree and thought it made sense but had only jumped to conclusions and ended up making baseless accusations. The sleuth's conclusions may have not necessarily been led by InsaneTrollLogic, but he forgot the big detail: you need actual solid evidence and other proof before going out and pointing fingers. In fiction, this is not always the case, and one can bypass all methods of proving who the perpetrator was if a given suspect's motive is reason enough.
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8	Often this leads to trouble when the suspect is innocent and protests that his motive isn't proof. A repeat offender may state that it's NotMeThisTime. May lead to a ClearMyName. Sometimes a prosecutor knows the suspect is innocent but will use this fallacy to his advantage to frame the suspect. The simple (but not easy) solution is to [[WeNeedToGetProof actually bring evidence to light]], quite possibly to realize that the prosecutor's accusations were wrong.
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10	Expect this trope to come out a lot as a RedHerringTwist in PoliceProcedural shows--''especially'' if there was an AssholeVictim. If the victim was really unpopular, this trope could evolve into EverybodyDidIt, because EveryoneIsASuspect.
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12	In a real legal situation, motive is one of the least important factors regarding prosecution of a guilty party. It's not required that the reason the defendant had committed the crime be shown, only if he acted with criminal intent. In fiction, motive is the factor that makes a good cohesive story, which is why this trope is able to persist.
13
14	This trope is also popular among fictional and real-life {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s, who come to the conclusion that if a certain group or government would benefit from a major tragedy, they must be the ones who caused it.
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16	Compare NotProven where a lack of evidence allows a guilty party to go free; ConvictionByContradiction when a flaw in the alibi implicates the suspect; and ConvictionByCounterfactualClue when the evidence proving guilt is totally wrong in the first place. See also OccamsRazor, which states the simpler the solution the less likely it is to be wrong.
17	----
18	!!Examples
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22	[[folder:Anime/Manga]]
23	* In the ''Literature/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'', this trope -- referred to as the question of "[[ArcWords whydunit]]" -- is invoked and [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. Magecraft can do almost anything (specifically, anything that could ''in theory'', according to current science, be done with unlimited time, effort, and resources by mundane means), meaning that when your suspect pool consists mainly of magi, almost literally anyone would have means or opportunity, and evidence can be extremely thin on the ground -- the culprit could've been someone across the world, a thousand years past, or even ''fictional'' (the latter two examples even get screen time in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''). That said, Waver doesn't consider motive ''entirely'' conclusive; it's just by far the most important factor. This is in contrast to [[SecretPolice Hishiri Adashino]], who uses the trope as an end-all-be-all reasoning why someone might be the culprit, regardless if they even committed the crime.
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26	[[folder:Comics]]
27	* Played straight and inverted in ''ComicBook/LoisLane #39'', Superman and Lois have finally tied the knot, only for Lois to fly into a rage when she finds [[RealityChangingMiniature portraits]], mostly of Superman's old girlfriends. When the portraits turn up painted on, Superman thinks Lois did it. Lois points out that one of the messed-up portraits was ComicBook/JimmyOlsen's, and while she might be jealous of her husband's old girlfriends, she would have no reason to mess up a picture of Jimmy. Superman agrees.
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30	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
31	* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}''. Red Puckett tells her side of the story. In her story, she thinks the Wolf is up to something bad involving a rash of recipe thefts because he's following her around, asking her personal questions, and she finds that creepy. Then Flippers tells Red they don't arrest people for being creepy. At the same time, the Wolf is an investigative freelance journalist who believes that ''Red'' and her Granny were behind the thefts on a misinformed tip from one of his informants. Both of them are innocent regarding the thefts and are subsequently released after their alibis are confirmed so that Flippers can identify the real culprit.
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34	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
35	* ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'' uses this trope as one of the main thrusts behind the drive to convict the defendant. The defendant had yelled "[[IllKillYou I'LL KILL YOU!]]" at the victim shortly before the victim had died, and this was taken as "evidence". Juror #3, the one most adamant for a conviction, argued that no one says something like that unless they truly mean it, and during the course of the film, Juror #8 gets #3 so angry that he lunges at #8, screaming "I'll kill him! I'LL KILL HIM!" before #8, remaining calm and cool, throws this line of reasoning right back in his face: "You don't ''really'' mean you'll kill me, do you?"
36	* ''Film/TheFugitive'': The fact that Richard Kimble would have gained something from killing his wife (namely, money -- even though he was already pretty well off financially as one of the top ranked surgeons in Chicago) is [[MistakenForMurderer one]] [[HollywoodLaw of]] [[FrameUp the]] many reasons why the Chicago Police Department arrest him [[PoliceAreUseless and don't give a second thought]] [[BadCopIncompetentCop to continue the investigation]]. [[WhatTheHellHero Needless to say]], [[InspectorJavert Samuel]] [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Gerard]] is...pretty quick to make note of how stupid this is the first chance he gets to talk to the original investigating detectives. [[spoiler:[[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot And turns out, she]] ''[[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot did]]'' [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot die for money]]--just not ''hers''. And there's [[FridgeBrilliance the]] [[FridgeHorror fact]] [[UnfortunateImplications that]] [[DirtyCop the]] "one-armed man" was an ex-Chicago cop, raising the possibility the Chicago Police covered for one of their own...]]
37	* Similarly, in the DistaffCounterpart ''Film/DoubleJeopardy'', the prosecution harps on the fact that Libby was the beneficiary of her husband's hefty insurance policy. Common sense fails to dictate to them or the jury that as his ''wife'', she would naturally be this, and that as a wealthy couple, the payout would be larger than average.
38	* In the 1976 ''Helter Skelter'', District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi puts a strong emphasis on the motive for Charles Manson and his followers for the Tate and [=LaBianca=] killings, but that is because the motive itself is so bizarre (Manson wants to start an apocalyptic race war) so it's important to establish that Manson had that motive and is willing to go to such lengths to achieve it.
39	* In ''Film/LegallyBlonde'', the widow's defense team pretty much assumes she's guilty or at least had motive since it looks like she was a GoldDigger to a rich older husband. Except, as Elle points out, she was already well off as a successful fitness instructor with popular videos. Plus she seemed to genuinely care about her husband and claims he was great in bed. [[spoiler:The real killer was his daughter who was planning on shooting her stepmother (resenting her for being the same age as her) but accidentally shot her father.]]
40	* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Andy Dufresne landed himself in jail for being suspected of the murder of his wife simply because he told her that [[SeeYouInHell he would see her in hell]] before [[DivorceInReno he would see her in Reno]]. [[MiscarriageOfJustice He also got sentenced]] [[IncriminatingIndifference because his shock at the events going on (and thus lack of expression) had the judge and jury believe he was a "stone-cold killer"]]. There was also a preponderance of circumstantial evidence: she and her lover were murdered the same night as their argument, there was evidence placing him at the scene (and he was there, and had actually considered at least scaring them with a gun, before throwing it away in disgust with himself), he owned a gun which he couldn't produce for comparison and was never found... None of this is conclusive, but a biased or swung jury could still convict once presented with the motive story from the prosecution's case.
41	* In the live-action movie of ''Film/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', this shows up in the final trial, when Phoenix accuses [[spoiler:Manfred von Karma]] of murdering Gregory Edgeworth. The killer insists that without a motive, Wright has no grounds to accuse him of doing it. Played with in that Phoenix ''has'' provided good evidence that his suspicions are correct, and the insistence of a motive was the killer clutching at straws since he figured no one could prove the reason he did it.
42	* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Film/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice''. Given Cora's husband had taken out a large life insurance policy the day before he died, Nick and Cora have a pretty big, obvious motive for killing him. The District Attorney puts a lot of emphasis on this point when talking to them, but it's all just a ploy. He wants to make them ''think'' their motive alone is enough to convict them so that they'll turn on each other and provide him with a confession. In truth, he admits that he doesn't remotely have enough evidence to convict them, motive or no motive.
43	* ''Film/WhereTheSidewalkEnds'': Once the police realize Triggs had a motive to kill Ken they're more than happy to pin the murder on him, despite evidence backing this claim being circumstantial at best. The actual killer is horrified as he was trying to frame someone else entirely.
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46	[[folder:Literature]]
47	* ''Literature/JackBlank'' has an enemy in the WellIntentionedExtremist Jonas Smart. Ever since the [[AlienInvasion first invasion]] of the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Rüstov]], Smart had sworn to protect the people of the Imagine Nation by implementing a lot of brutal practices, including SinisterSurveillance of the population and perpetuating FantasticRacism against Mechas, since The Great Collaborator, the one who betrayed the Imagine Nation by opening it up to the Rüstov, was a Mecha named Silico. Jack and his new friend Jazen, also a Mecha, come to the conclusion that Smart had orchestrated the whole Great Collaborator thing and pinned it on Silico to gain emergency wartime powers and keep them secure. When they bring this up to Smart, he's downright disgusted that they believe that of him because he would never even think of siding with the Rustov, and he is quick to point out that they have absolutely no proof supporting their accusations. In short, Jack and Jazen were dead wrong.
48	* Exploited during the SummationGathering in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/AMurderIsAnnounced'' when Inspector Craddock accuses Edmund of committing the murder, solely on the basis that he supposedly was in a position to inherit. [[spoiler:Both of them are faking the scene, as a ruse to trap the true killer.]]
49	* This trope is the basis of [[spoiler: Tyrion]]'s trial in ''Literature/AStormOfSwords''. Many witnesses claimed they heard him threaten [[spoiler: Cersei and Joffrey]], and that convinces the entire realm that he was guilty of murder. [[spoiler:Though Tyrion had little love for his nephew, and ''was'' harsh toward him, he is completely innocent.]]
50	** The same trope shows up at the very climax of the book. In the first book, the mystery of Jon Arryn's death was the DrivingQuestion. At the end of that book, Ned Stark finds out that Cersei Lannister had powerful motives for wanting him dead and the ensuing fiasco leads to a CivilWar. Turns out [[spoiler:that Cersei was framed at that time by Littlefinger, who later killed Joffrey and framed Tyrion for it. Being a MagnificentBastard, he used this to ensure that PoorCommunicationKills]].
51	* Averted in ''Literature/WithoutRemorse''. Ryan and Emmett eventually realize that Kelly, who is a retired SEAL who has the skills to kill all the drug dealers in Baltimore, also has an excellent motive to murder all the drug dealers in Baltimore, and from that (correctly) conclude that he is 'the Invisible Man', who has been killing all the drug dealers in Baltimore. But in the next paragraph, they openly admit that they have no real evidence, just a very convincing motive, so they have to keep investigating until they find some.
52	* Literature/SageAdair's friends and associates are constantly being falsely arrested on these grounds.
53	* The fifth Literature/FearStreet book actually inverts this. The protagonist's goal is to prove her half-brother innocent of murder and refuses to go to the police without actual proof that [[spoiler: the victim's husband was the killer.]] However, it never seems to occur to her that the evidence she did uncover ([[spoiler: an affair, and plans to flee the country]]) would have at minimum hurt his credibility as a witness, and thus helped her brother's case. Something of a JustifiedTrope as she's a teenager, not a lawyer.
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56	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
57	* ''Series/NirvanaInFire'': Jingyan is the only person with a vested interest in rescuing the traitor Wei Zheng and our heroes know he will be instantly (and correctly) blamed for it. Mei Changsu has to carefully set things up so that the emperor thinks that this obvious connection is being used by Xia Jiang to frame Jingyan for the break out.
58	* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' more or less runs on this trope. The main character is usually hired by the police because of his ability to piece together things when there's little physical evidence. Most characters assume/are lead to believe its [[PhonyPsychic psychic powers]]. He'll get his suspect, rattle off his list of mostly, if not entirely, circumstantial evidence and usually get a confession out of the perp. {{Lampshaded}} at least once when the police protest they'll actually need more than Shawn's "psychic" hunches to move forward in a case.
59	* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Rules of Engagement" Worf undergoes a hearing on whether he'll be extradited to the Klingon Empire for blowing up one of their transports after it decloaked in front of the ''Defiant'' during a firefight. Under Federation law, this is an OpenAndShutCase, and Worf is clearly innocent of murder. Under ''Klingon'' law, the motive of the killer is what is important (as in, did you kill out of duty or bloodlust?), and their lawyer somehow convinces the Starfleet admiral in charge of the proceeding to let him go ahead with that line of questioning. [[spoiler:Sisko later dresses him down for even firing on an unidentified target when he knew there might be civilian ships in the area]].
60	* In the ''Series/{{Bones}}'' episode where Booth and Brennan describe their first case, they're interrogating the suspect, against whom they had plenty of damning evidence [[spoiler: including the victim's inner ear bones in his trunk lock]]. The lawyer calmly says that, since they don't have any motive, he and his client will be leaving, and Booth seems to agree. They aren't able to really nail the guy until Brennan realizes [[spoiler: he was a drug user, which clearly means the victim saw him getting high, which clearly meant he had to kill her]]. He was an important politician, so they did need a strong case, but everyone acted like it was the motive that was important, not the evidence.
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63	[[folder:Video Games]]
64	* In one quest in ''Videogame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', the elf wizard Wrath is found dead within his home, and his apprentice Jormund is instantly placed under house arrest as a suspect. Jormund had entered into a lifelong contract with Wrath, who would outlive him by several centuries, and is believed to have killed his mentor in order to bring the contract to an end. Plus, he's the only dwarf living in a community of elves, and [[ApeShallNeverKillApe elves generally consider themselves to be above the act of murder]]. [[spoiler:The real killer is Wrath himself, who committed suicide in a bid to [[InvertedTrope invert]] MurderTheHypotenuse and frame his love rival for his own death.]]
65	* ''VideoGame/TamrielRebuilt'' has a quest that can go here as a result of the case having gotten gummed up for ''decades'' as a result of there being (in the context of Tamrielic law) neither enough evidence to convict ''nor'' to acquit -- they were ''seen'' to do it, but they claim that a shapeshifter impersonated them, they had no immediately apparent motive and this is known to have happened to other people in their position during the period. By uncovering a motive, you tip the scales over enough that the court is finally able to end the case with a guilty conviction and an execution for treason.[[spoiler: The limits of motive as evidence is made clear that by uncovering the motive you also uncover evidence for a shapeshifter having impersonated them, allowing you to exonerate them if you so wish. You ''do'' get the guilty person executed if you don't bring this up to the court, but only because the person they have in prison is actually the shapeshifter.]]
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68	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
69	* Zigzagged in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' franchise.
70	** The prosecutors often don't provide a motive for why the defendant would've committed the murder, instead just using the evidence and testimony gathered by the police investigation (for instance, Maya Fey in Turnabout Sisters, who is accused of murdering her own sister based solely on the testimony of a single witness, a lone piece of physical evidence ''assumed'' to be implicating her, and the fact that she was already at the crime scene when the police got there). Sometimes, when the real murderer is caught, you don't learn their motive until after they're arrested and you're waiting for the judge to give the Not Guilty verdict. At other times, you have to provide a motive (and evidence that supports said motive) for the person that the defense attorney is accusing of being the real criminal.
71	** In the sixth entry to the series, ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'', the killer of the first half of the fifth case says "I had no motive for killing the victim!" Defense attorney Apollo Justice mentally notes that it's a desperate last gasp since all of the evidence is pointing in their direction; the killer is just desperately trying to stall.
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74	[[folder:Western Animation]]
75	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' has Suzie blame Angelica for stealing her brand-new tricycle. Angelica was completely innocent — Suzie's trike was under her porch, Angelica's trike was her own and Angelica's red hands (which Suzie thought was from opening her garage's painted doors) were actually from her finger painting an apology letter.
76	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
77	** An early episode in the first season involved one clone attempting to frame another for being a traitor. The framed clone was blamed because he looted the fingers of destroyed battle droids from the battlefield and strung them together to make little bracelets, which was explicitly forbidden. The real traitor was found out immediately after he blamed the other because [[INeverSaidItWasPoison he knew that the Jedi were off the base, and no one told him that]], exposing him as the one who bugged the command center and gave strategic secrets to the Separatists.
78	** "Senate Murders". Senator Onoconda Farr dies and is found by the inspector to have been poisoned. Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala investigate against the inspector's advice, and at one point they accuse the Kaminoan senator of being responsible because Ono was one of the opponents of a bill to create more clone soldiers. Though she's not the nicest senator and did benefit from the death, she vehemently denies the murder. [[spoiler:After finding out the poison was Rodian-specific, and that one of the other senators who shared the drink was Rodian like Ono but didn't get poisoned, she was identified as the real culprit]].
79	** Ahsoka Tano is accused this way in the final arc of the fifth season. Ahsoka starts out investigating a crime involving sabotage at the Jedi Temple and starts interrogating potential suspects. Ahsoka is accused of committing the crimes herself even though the evidence is dodgy: while interrogating a witness, the record shows her Force choking the witness when she was only scrambling to help the woman being Force-choked remotely; the audio was suspiciously cut off. Also, Ahsoka is reinforced as guilty when she is found in possession of the same bombs used in the sabotage when she was actually going to search the warehouse for clues to their actual owner. She quickly grows disillusioned as she protests that she's being framed and her prosecutors are too ready to convict her just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
80	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''
81	** Councilman Tarrlok uses the logic that "the terrorist Equalists are angry non-benders, therefore all these non-benders are Equalists". The crowd he refers to is made up of angry non-benders, but clearly aren't terrorists and non-violently protest Tarrlok's false accusation as unfair. Tarrlok uses their protests to reinforce this trope on them.
82	** Unalaq accuses his brother Tonraq of conspiring to assassinate him. The judge states that there was a meeting where plans of a civil war was discussed, the meeting took place at Tonraq's home, and Tonraq is chief, and therefore he must be guilty. However, Korra knows her father is innocent because she was a direct witness to the event and Tonraq was not only absent from the assassination attempt, but had confessed sincerely to Korra that he had no intention of murdering his brother. [[spoiler: Unalaq knew all along that Tonraq was innocent and that Varrick was behind it, but he exploited this trope to have his brother found guilty and taken out of his way]].
83	** Northern Water Tribe members are suspected for bombing the Southern Water Tribe cultural center during a peaceful protest made by Southerners. Mako knows better, witnessing that the perpetrator was a firebender and identifying who he is as well as his affiliation with a bending triad. Other cops on the police force ignore Mako's trail of evidence and tell Mako to cease his investigation because it was clear that the Northerners did it. This poor judgement is portrayed as [[CorruptCop laziness on their part]].
84	* ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject''. A spine-enhancing backpack was stolen from a disability rehabilitation center. The young suspect was seen at the scene of the crime just before it was stolen, and is believed guilty despite his testimony that he wasn't there, and that because the backpack is missing he is now confined to a wheelchair; the police only believe that his knowledge of the stolen object and motive to take it convicts him. The truth was that Zeta had projected a hologram of the suspect to hide himself while attempting to search for data in the computer of the backpack's inventor and had witnessed the real thief steal the backpack; a witness who saw Zeta but missed the thief believed it was the kid he was disguised as.
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Context Main / MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence