History Main / OrgyOfEvidence

'Cause I'm just not sure that it was Maisie.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Fit for Murder", Barnaby and Jones find a large amount of incriminating evidence when they search the house and vehicle of a pair of suspects. Barnaby points out the murders were methodical and carefully premeditated, and scarcely the work of someone who leave incriminating evidence ([[ChronicEvidenceRetentionSyndrome that they had no reason to keep]]) where any search would reveal it.

* ''Film/{{Shooter}}'': The conspiracy's slew of clues to set-up Swagger as the killer is this, and it ''does'' drive the investigating agencies to believe that Swagger did it. The reason why Memphis doesn't believe it's Swagger at first is because 1) Swagger is a top-notch sniper capable of impossible shots, [[IfIWantedYouDead and there is no way he wouldn't have hit the President (the assumed target) considering the conditions at the time]], 2) the evidence arrived at the government offices barely minutes after the shooting (''while the crime scene was still closed'' and the pursuit for Swagger was still starting), making him suspicious of the absurd efficiency and speed of its delivery and 3) not only did the cop that allegedly discovered Swagger provide a story that sounded a bit ridiculous to those with knowledge of sniper tactics[[note]]the cop said that he saw the barrel of Swagger's sniper rifle sticking out from a window, but sniper protocol is to camp in a position to avoid precisely this[[/note]], [[RevealingCoverup but the cop was shot dead in an alleged mugging just hours after giving his statement, which sounds even more suspicious]]. In the book on which the movie is based, [[spoiler: it's not enough to vindicate Swagger. Only when he points out that he replaced the firing pin on the alleged rifle before it was supposedly used in the assassination, making it mechanically incapable of firing, is Swagger able to prove his innocence.]]

* ''Series/FatherBrown'': During TheSummation in "The Brewer's Daughter", Father Brown points out that the sheer amount evidence uncovered was unlikely unless the murderer was attempting a frame-up. [[spoiler:The killer was attempting to invoke this trope by framing herself, and relying on Father Brown to then uncover the more subtle evidence she had left implicating a second suspect.]]

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse ''Literature/XWingSeries'' of books, Tycho Celchu is accused of being a sleeper agent, as well as of murdering Corran Horn. His lawyer is quick to point out to the military tribunal that there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that proves Tycho's guilt, but that someone has been actively destroying anything that could exonerate Tycho. For example there were numerous bank accounts indicating that Tycho had been paid millions of credits by the Empire, an amount completely disproportionate to his alleged importance as a spy. Not to mention that he was also supposedly {{brainwashed}} and thus there shouldn't have been any reason for the Empire to pay him at all. [[spoiler:In the end, Tycho is let go when other clues come up, like the fact that Corran himself walks into the room and declares that Tycho didn't kill him. It also turns out that [[TheSpymaster General Cracken]] knew Tycho was innocent all along (a fact which outrages the prosecutor, who was genuinely convinced of his guilt) and didn't reveal this to the tribunal [[BatmanGambit so that his Imperial counterpart Director Isard would keep devoting resources to maintaining the frame-up instead of moving on to a different plot]].]]

* ''Film/JackReacher'': The case against a former Army sniper for killing several random people seems airtight, since there was so much evidence found at the shooting site, including fingerprints on the quarter used to pay for the parking meter, bullet ballistics and license plate identification. Even with all that evidence that an average shooter performed such an incredible series of shots, Reacher was prepared to consider it a lucky break, but then he was attacked in a bar as an obvious attempt to drive him off, which affirms that there's a bigger conspiracy going on. Even with all that evidence, he only realises the full truth when he starts wondering [[spoiler: why the lead detective would even think to look for the parking meter quarter in the first place. Such a thought goes beyond due diligence into almost obsessiveness, and Reacher ultimately deduces that the lead detective was in on the frame-up from the beginning]].

Alternately, an investigation turning up an implausible quantity or quality of evidence can be an early indication of a DetectiveMole or TheBadGuysAreCops situation, where the investigators continually "find" exactly the evidence they need because they're making all the "evidence" themselves.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The third case in the first game looks so damning that one character starts calling it a setup before the trial has begun. A whole story is spun where the frame target runs around in a cardboard robot costume attacking people with progressively more lethal weapons, eventually killing Kiyotaka and Hifumi. Evidence includes a photograph of the culprit dragging Hifumi away, the murder weapons left at the scene, costume blueprints in the frame target's room, and the frame target in the robot suit. The whole frame job falls apart when everyone realizes that the supposed rampage involved TheDitz creating and putting on a ridiculous costume, somehow evading all the students running around the school after him, moving Hifumi's corpse up several flights of stairs without being seen despite the body having been only left alone for a minute- and then somehow getting stuck in a locker. Definitely fishy even before the characters start finding all sorts of flaws in the evidence (such as the blueprints not matching the frame target's handwriting and the costume having been so clunky the culprit couldn't have really moved around while wearing it), and once holes start getting poked in it, suspicion falls on the one person who claimed to see the culprit (really the framed target)- [[spoiler: Celestia Ludenburg.]]
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': The second case in the second game, meanwhile, ends up making the patsy an impossibility as far as suspects go because of all the inconsistencies in her characterization with the evidence left behind. The blood soaked corpse was moved to block a door (forcing the scapegoat to leave behind footprints through sand), and yet the scapegoat didn't have any blood on their clothing or body. Also, the culprit tried to leave behind the scapegoat's TrademarkFavoriteFood at the scene of the crime, but they got the details wrong and chose a variant that the scapegoat doesn't eat.

* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'': In "Night Fears", the killer floods the police with a bunch of false clues pointing towards a psychopath, hoping that this will drown out the one legitimate clue pointing towards him.

* In the Literature/JackReacher novel ''One Shot'', this is what the case against James Barr becomes. However, what makes Reacher suspicious is not the amount of evidence, but that the investigative team thought to look for a clue that they had no reason to believe existed.

* In ''Comicbook/DaredevilBornAgain'', this phenomenon is what finally convinces Matt Murdock that the recent misfortunes he has suffered are being caused by ComicBook/TheKingpin rather than simply a string of bad luck. Most of his difficulties were subtly engineered problems concerning his taxes, his career and his friends -- his entire apartment building blowing up is a little more suspicious.
-->'''Murdock:''' It was a nice piece of work, Kingpin. You shouldn't have signed it.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'', this is part of what makes Bigby Wolf suspect that [[spoiler:Rose Red's murder was staged, the gratuitous amount of blood belonging to the allegedly dead Red. He admits later he assumed she was dead because of all that blood there...until he realizes there was ''too'' much blood for a woman Rose's size]].
* In ''IR$'', the BigBad decide to sacrifice his Dragon, hanging him so it looks like a suicide, with evidence of traffic... Not as bad as the main conspiracy, but maybe enough to commit suicide instead of the shame of the trial. The hero declares that in IRS, you learn never to trust any document presented before you asked for it.
* In ''ComicBook/TheMazeAgency'' story "The Mile High Corpse", evidence is found on the body of the victim that seems to implicate all of the possible suspects.
* In ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', the Titans are told by reporter Bethany Snow of some Congresspeople backing the villainous Brother Blood. They raid a base to discover a room of campaign materials for those Congresspeople. The Titans share this with the media and those Congresspeople are voted out of office. When hearing of this from Terra, Deathstroke muses on how it seems off that Blood would have such important evidence lying around in a base so lightly guarded. When the Titans later appear on Snow's TV show, they're ambushed by her and the newly elected Congresspeople to be made out as the bad guys persecuting the noble Blood. Too late, the Titans realize this was all a setup and it's the new Congresspeople working for Blood, not the trio framed by all the "evidence."
* In ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'', Tommy Halloway/the Angel investigates the murder of Jean Grey, which was clearly done with WolverineClaws. When he finds the missing X-Man, Anne-Marie Rankin, he's suspicious because she pointed him in the direction of Captain Logan almost immediately after they met. Halloway manages to figure out it couldn't be Logan very quickly, leading to the obvious conclusion that Rankin's trying to frame him -- and since Logan's ''nekode'' aren't too hard to come by if you know where to look, she likely killed Jean herself.

A common tactic for fictional criminals (especially murderers) is to plant false clues at the scene of the crime, [[FrameUp framing someone else]] or otherwise sending law enforcement on wild goose chase. Sometimes, however, they take things too far and the [[EvidenceDungeon type, quality, or sheer amount of clues]] has the opposite effect. No detective will believe that any criminal could be so careless as to leave that much incriminating evidence behind, or that the evidence is turning up [[TooGoodToBeTrue far more quickly and easily than is usual for this kind of case]]. This causes the investigator to look more closely, [[RevealingCoverup usually unravelling the whole scheme in the process]].