History Main / SmokingGunControl

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

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* ''Literature/CareerOfEvil'': Strike has the SerialKiller narrowed down to four suspects (one of whom he writes off quite quickly). The killer's inner monologues reveal that he was raised by a man who called himself his father but really wasn't, and that the killer has a son who was taken away from him. It seems like this information might narrow it down come the hero' background checks, but then it's revealed that it doesn't. All three men ha d a biological son who was taken away from them by his mother or another relative after they were arrested for their crimes. All three men were raised by men besides their actual father (as a result of MamasBabyPapasMaybe, FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo and a stepfather). Then, later, it looks as if the field of suspects is down to two due to more monologues from the unnamed killer revealing he has a live-in girlfriend who he secretly despises. Only two of the suspects hare been shown to have girlfriends, while the third lives alone. It later turns out that third one [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter has a second alias he takes up at times, under which he does have a girlfriend.]]

* ''Series/PushingDaisies'': the dead person (almost) never has complete or accurate information about the killer. The first victim shown in the pilot did, but that was necessary to demonstrate how the plot worked, and wasn't the only murder of the episode. The one time the victim says "My wife did it", he's a polygamist.
** In the second season, Gustav Hoffer knew who killed him, but was so busy talking about something else that his minute ran out. Rollie Stingwell also gave them an actual name, but [[spoiler: it turned out to be the wrong person entirely]]. Erin Embry knew who her killer was, but [[spoiler: Ned had taken a TenMinuteRetirement and sworn off necromancy for the episode, so they couldn't ask her]].
** Suverted in [=S1E8=], where the perp gives clear, concise information that quickly leads to the killer. [[spoiler: it's the SECOND murder, for a different reason, that's troublesome.]]

* ''Literature/CareerOfEvil'': Strike has the SerialKiller narrowed down to four suspects (one of whom he writes off quite quickly). The killer's inner monologues reveal that he was raised by a man who called himself his father but really wasn't, and that the killer has a son who was taken away from him. It seems like this information might narrow it down come the hero' background checks, but then it's revealed that it doesn't. All three men ha d a biological son who was taken away from them by his mother or another relative after they were arrested for their crimes. All three men were raised by men besides their actual father (as a result of MamaBabyPapasMaybe, FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo and a stepfather). Then, later, it looks as if the field of suspects is down to two due to more monologues from the unnamed killer revealing he has a live-in girlfriend who he secretly despises. Only two of the suspects hare been shown to have girlfriends, while the third lives alone. It later turns out that third one [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter has a second alias he takes up at times, under which he does have a girlfriend.]]

* ''Series/PushingDaisies'': the dead person (almost) never has complete or accurate information about the killer. The one time the victim says "My wife did it", he's a polygamist.

* In the ''Literature/LordDarcy'' stories, a character once comments that detective work in cities would be a lot easier without all the anti-scrying spells placed on homes and businesses. Darcy comments that if these were not there, detective work would be non-existent - you could just call in a journeyman sorcerer to use some basic divination spells and the case would be solved in under an hour. He also mentions that this would also eliminate all hope of personal privacy, as any interested mage could scry into your house or office whenever they wanted (This is the reason that anti-scrying spells are placed on homes and businesses in the first place).

* DoubleSubversion: ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'' (it's like ''ScoobyDoo'' with a devil instead of a dog, and lots more murder) features a killer who is clearly caught on CCTV committing the crime, carrying the murder weapon which is found on her person, and who had prominent, obvious connects to her victims ([[spoiler: they all "unfriended" her on Faceboo... I mean [[BrandX Links]]]]). Yet somehow, the police are still unable to solve the crime (something to do with the crystal clear CCTV evidence, motive, lack of alibi, and clear connections to the victims being inadmissible in court!)

In {{Police Procedural}}s and other works of {{Mystery Fiction}}, easy ways to solve crimes will quickly be eliminated. [[InsecurityCamera CCTV cameras were broken,]] guns and cars were stolen, etc. Anytime it does look like a vital piece of evidence has been found early on it will either be quickly contradicted or somehow made inadmissible in court.

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* This seems to happen to ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' in ''Every. Freaking. Case.''
** Particularly notable towards the end of the first game where everyone in the court watches a security camera video and then Phoenix and the prosecutor freak out when it turns out that the most important parts of what happened are not shown. This is also a justified instance, as [[spoiler: the culprit was the one whose job it was to manage the cameras, so he knew how he could avoid being seen.]]
** Also, if the crime has any direct witnesses, they will almost always turn out to have completely misinterpreted what they saw. They are usually outright lying the other times.
** And any seemingly-critical photograph taken of the crime will turn out to be entirely misleading.

** Oh, don't forget that, anytime there IS a smoking gun..it's proving the guilt of said innocent client.

* DoubleSubversion: ''MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'' (it's like ''ScoobyDoo'' with a devil instead of a dog, and lots more murder) features a killer who is clearly caught on CCTV committing the crime, carrying the murder weapon which is found on her person, and who had prominent, obvious connects to her victims ([[spoiler: they all "unfriended" her on Faceboo... I mean [[BrandX Links]]]]). Yet somehow, the police are still unable to solve the crime (something to do with the crystal clear CCTV evidence, motive, lack of alibi, and clear connections to the victims being inadmissible in court!)

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* ''{{Comicbook/Bookhunter}}'': The thief Kettle Stitch is very good about this. Agent Bay realizes that an otherwise-[[ThePerfectCrime perfect]] book theft has resulted in a missing circulation card that can be linked to Kettle Stitch's library card. Except Kettle Stitch anticipated this, and used a counterfeit copy of someone else's card, instead of her own. So Agent Bay investigates how said library card was counterfeited, and finds that Kettle Stitch hacked into the library's patron records computer system--but his attempt to [[PhoneTraceRace trace her location]] fails, and she just erases all the evidence of her hacking from the system.

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* Noncriminal examples occur frequently on ''{{House}}'': if anyone is cured near the beginning of an episode, they're either not the patient of the week, or they [[LethalDiagnosis only seemed to be getting better]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since House's team only handles the most complicated cases: "I look for zebras instead of horses because other doctors eliminate all the horses."
* ''PushingDaisies'': the dead person (almost) never has complete or accurate information about the killer. The one time the victim says "My wife did it", he's a polygamist.

* Used frequently in ''LawAndOrder'' where the important evidence usually does exist, but legal mistakes in handling it means it can't be admitted in court.
** Often beaten into the ground by the various L&O franchises, where ''multiple'' pieces of evidence are tossed for various (occasionally contradictory) reasons. The worst offender was arguably the ''LawAndOrderSVU'' season 8 finale, "Screwed" where more or less ALL the evidence against the defendant was tossed because of a corrupt cop at the evidence room tipping the defense off to "questionable practices" in gaining the evidence, then "losing" the rest.
** This was often [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the very early days of LawAndOrder "Prime." There would be some ambiguity back then about whether some defendants were actually guilty. Eventually either the producers or the audience decided they wanted certainty, so after, say, season three the cops always find damning evidence that gets thrown out of court.

This is because easy-to-solve crimes wouldn't be too entertaining to watch. (One can assume that they happen between episodes, when we're not watching.) Also, smart criminals (who take precautions to cover their tracks) are more interesting characters than [[StupidCrooks dumb ones]].

* Very rare on ''CriminalMinds''. Evidence found is usually pertinent and useful (they just don't always know what it means).
* Rare on ''{{CSI}}'', which can [[FingerprintingAir fingerprint the air]].

* A skit on ''[[ThatMitchellAndWebbLook The Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' involved the police trying to find the "Identity Killer". He, among other things, put t-shirts with a photograph of himself on his victims, left his driver's license and passport on the scene, and hung out at the police station while detectives debated the case.