Quotes / Framing the Guilty Party

"When you're looking to get somebody arrested, bad guys can't always be counted on to commit crimes on your schedule. Sometimes you have to give them a little push. Once you've got a crime in progress, you can let the authorities take over. That assumes, of course, that the authorities are paying attention."

—Michael, Burn Notice

Justice of a sort
New Newgate swallows another victim. They were mired in base practices - theft, blackmail and extortion. Their loyalties were poorly thought out. They didn't actually commit the crime for which they were punished, but that's hardly the issue.

— Fallen London

Nate: Now, I just delivered proof of your crimes to the police.
Moreau: You don't have any proof of my crimes.
Nate: Hey, you're right. You're right. I don't, no. That's right. But I'm framing you (points to Italian) with her crimes.

— Leverage

Captain Tagon: Can we plead "that's not how we did it?"
Massey: Maybe you can ask for a recess while the defense runs around in a panic.

— Schlock Mercenary, June 30th, 2006

Captain Tagon: Can we use the evidence we planted to show that their evidence is also fake?
Massey: Brilliant. We'll just confess to the crime, and then we can't be framed.
Captain Tagon: Oka... Wait. That's sarcasm, right?

— Schlock Mercenary, July 2nd, 2006

"I fed her the story. Coerced her statement. Planted the evidence in Mackey's house. But I framed a guilty man."

— Jon Kavanaugh, The Shield

Stringer Bell: [As Omar is testifying that he witnessed one of Stringer's men commit murder] Word on the street is Omar ain't nowhere near them rises when the shit popped. The street says the little cocksucker was over on the East Side, sticking up some Ashland Avenue niggas.
Detective McNulty: That's the word on the street, huh? [McNulty smirks] Trouble is, String, we ain't on the street. We're in a court of law.

— The Wire