History HollywoodLaw / LiveActionTV

* ''{{Series/MASH}}'':

** Many of the stunts and hijinks pulled were ''incredibly'' illegal under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and would have brought serious consequences. Remarkably, accounts from real M*A*S*H staff suggest they and their colleagues often got away with ''worse''.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}:'' "Invisible Evidence": A patrolman stops a car for a broken tail light, arrests the driver on an outstanding warrant and a CSI finds evidence of a murder in the trunk. The judge tosses the evidence because neither the patrolman nor the CSI applied for a warrant to search the trunk. The Fourth Amendment does not apply whenever a person is being arrested in their car (covering the patrolman) and anytime a car is impounded, as the police have to inventory its contents (covering the CSI).
** Slightly different now; the Supreme Court in Arizona v. Gant ruled that a "search incident to arrest" at a car can only be conducted if the search is likely to turn up evidence of the crime the person is being arrested for. You can search the car of someone being arrested for DUI for alcohol bottles but you can't if you're arresting him for reckless driving for example. IF the police SEIZE the car however, an "inventory search" can be conducted at the impound lot on the grounds that the police don't want to be accused of stealing something from the car if the perp is let go.
** Of course as it turned out [[spoiler:when the CSI team re-investigate the case, searching for evidence that ''will'' be admissible, they discover that the driver was innocent -- he was being framed by the car wash employee, who planted the bloody knife in the back seat and smashed the tail light so he would be stopped.]]

** Regarding the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise, some examples ''do'' fall into the {{Truth In Television}}/{{Reality Is Unrealistic}} camp -- after all, police and lawyers in the real world don't always get it right either [[labelnote:*]]for example, in the aforementioned case in "Presumed Guilty", the assault charge is clearly unfounded, but an overzealous prosecutor thinking the worst of a parolee and therefore pursuing the case anyway is hardly an implausible scenario[[/labelnote]]. However, others, i.e. [=McCoy=] conspiring with a judge, stretch the bounds of credibility even by real-life standards.

** A pretty blatant example happens in "Iced". The VictimOfTheWeek's {{Jerkass}} best friend at one point is asked for a sample of DNA to test his against the child of said best friend's girlfriend that he conceived through rape. He turns them down flat, only for Detective Vera to hold him down and forcibly swabbed the DNA from his mouth, ultimately proven their suspicions. The suspect was certainly a prick, but the act was pretty illegal on many fronts.

* ''Series/{{Transplant}}'': Mags tells Bash that he will be blamed if Bishop dies; however, Ontario's Good Samaritan Act should protect him from liability, given that he is a trained, if not licensed, professional, not someone that could be reasonably accused of negligence.

* ''Series/BlueBloods''
** In "To Tell the Truth", Danny and Erin have difficulty convincing an eyewitness to testify against a gangster. To remedy this, the cops leak his location to the underworld, then [[WeWait wait for the gangsters to strike]] before swooping in to "rescue" him.
** In "Critical Condition", Jamie and his new partner, Luisa Sosa, are assigned to "Bingo Bags" -- staking out a park bench and wait for someone to take a bag of stolen goods planted there as bait. Jamie squirms over what he views as "borderline entrapment." It would only qualify as borderline entrapment ''if'' they convinced someone to take the bag--just leaving it out there is completely legal. To be fair, this is Jamie's personal opinion that we're talking about: it may be legal but it may or may not be strictly ''nice''.
** In "Old Wounds", Erin Reagan prosecutes a case where her ex-husband is the defense attorney, with no one raising any concern over just how much conflict of interest there is at hand. This also happens in other episodes, all without any comment.
** In "Protest Too Much", a young couple rob a bank, accidentally shooting a man in the process. Detective Danny Reagan is on the case. As the FBI agents investigating this point out, banks are federally insured, which means any crimes committed during the course of a bank robbery are also federal crimes, even when the shooting was done by an off-duty NYPD cop's gun (he was at the bank and got disarmed by the bank robbers), meaning it should be an exclusive FBI investigation. The NYPD might not even be on the case at all, [[RuleOfDrama but then, of course, there would be no story]]. [[note]]To be fair, the NYPD may not be the lead law enforcement agency on the investigation, although they almost certainly would arrive on scene before the first FBI agent could show up. The role of the NYPD might be to assist in taking witness statements and securing the scene. For the record, "Baggage" had a bank robbery and the FBI never appeared at all even though they should've been there.[[/note]]
*** Bank robberies in New York City are investigated by the F.B.I.-N.Y.P.D. Joint Violent Crimes Task Force
** In "Unwritten Rules", Danny gets upset with his prosecutor sister Erin when she won't press charges on a suspect identified as killing a police officer during an armed robbery because the eyewitness, an elderly woman, is shaky on it being him and she doesn't think she'll hold up. While it would still be enough to arrest him, she says to let him go. Later they tell Angelo Reed that there's another witness against him, and offer him a plea deal where he'd only do seven years in prison. Danny then "lets slip" the fact that this witness didn't identify him, and the suspect backs out at once, which is all part of their plan. He's then arrested due to the confession he signed to get the plea deal. While police and prosecutors ''can'' lie to a suspect, this does not apply to the terms of a plea bargain, and self-incriminating statements made on the promise of a deal cannot be used against them if it falls through. Very few people would make plea deals otherwise. Angelo Reed would've walked on this technicality.
** "Justice Served":
*** It's suspected that lawyer Angelo Gallo was shot because he dropped his client, a mob boss, who thought he would tell the police about killing a witness to make the case against him go away because supposedly "attorney-client privilege ends" when their business relationship does. Not even close -- attorney-client privilege applies to ''all'' past criminal activity clients admitted to (unless the lawyer themselves was a party to it). Later on it turns out that Gallo knows the details of the contract killing his client ordered, which he gives to the police. It's not made clear whether he knew about this before or after the crime had occurred, however. Assuming the latter, none of this information could be used against his client.
*** Jamie's partner officer Edie Janko is [[AttemptedRape almost date-raped]] in her apartment. She's reluctant to come forward out of fear she'll appear weak in front of fellow (particularly male) officers. Finally he convinces her to press charges. Rather than hand it off to the Special Victims Unit, whose detectives handle these sorts of crimes, Janko personally arrests the man who attacked her. This is a massive conflict of interest, as she's the one whose complaint they're arresting him on, a fact that any defense attorney would make hay out of (cue RuleOfDrama for this: it's an awesome scene for a TV show but wouldn't happen in real life).
*** Danny is shown as a juror on a murder trial. It would be practically impossible for any police detective to wind up on such a jury, much less one who investigates homicides himself. If nothing else, the likelihood of him knowing likely witnesses would disqualify him. As well, neither side would want a cop on the jury second-guessing or clarifying police procedures for the other jurors -- which is exactly what happens until Danny is kicked off the jury. Then Danny proceeds to take over the case and reinvestigate it, which no police force would likely allow, especially once it had gone to trial.
** In "Custody Battle" Frank is questioned over the fact that his daughter Erin, a prosecutor, was assigned to review the death of a suspect in the custody of his department. Frank is rightly asked if she can be objective, considering that a negative finding will reflect poorly on him as police commissioner. Like the examples above with Erin prosecuting cases where her ex-husband is the defense attorney, it's a conflict of interest to investigate matters than even tangentially have to do with a close relative, and she'd have to recuse herself.
*** This also applies to how Danny often goes to Erin when he needs search warrants. As they are siblings, the same conflict of interest rule may apply here. On the other hand, if Erin doesn't have a choice on which cases are passed to her, there may not be conflict of interest if she's prosecuting a case that Danny investigated.
*** A big example of that is "Loose Lips". Erin tries to get Russell Price indicted for beating his girlfriend to death and then trying to kill Jamie by lobbing a Molotov cocktail into his patrol car. There's a massive conflict of interest for an assistant district attorney to prosecute someone who threatened or committed a crime against a friend or relative of theirs (that is, Jamie). Admittedly, the judge at the hearing ''does'' point out that the fact that both of Erin's brothers are involved in the case (Danny as lead investigator, Jamie as a victim) could lead to Erin showing perceived bias against the accused, but Erin would have had to have someone else prosecute Price.
** Likewise, someone with Danny Reagan's record of complaints for use of force would probably not be allowed to work with the public. Even with his father being the active commissioner, Danny's actions could easily become a liability for the NYPD if someone sues him for emotional distress/police brutality/whatever.
** "Backstabbers" sees JurisdictionFriction going on between the NYPD and United States Marshals Service over the manhunt for two prison escapees. While it's never said whether the prison the two escapees broke out of was a federal prison, it's also never said if the prison in question was a state correctional facility. If the latter, the Marshals would have no involvement in the case because they work for the federal government; the US Marshals Service has no responsibility or authority over escapees from state prisons, unless the escapee crossed state lines, which the two escapees haven't.
** In "All the News That's Fit to Click", an anti-cop criminal shoots Lorenzo Colt, a reporter who happens to be dressed in an NYPD-issue windbreaker, while he's doing a ridealong with Jamie and Edie. The suspect, Michael Hicks, who has a history of violence against cops, is arrested. Colt is brought in to identify the suspect in a lineup, he refuses to identify Hicks and is let go, as is Hicks. In reality, if a victim refuses to cooperate such as refusing to identify a suspect, the state can still prosecute a suspected offender based upon other evidence. Which, for the record, the police already had, as voice recognition had proven with 95% certainty that Hicks made the 911 call that lured Colt and the officers he was riding with into an ambush.
*** From the same episode, Frank surmises (and Danny and others buy into) the suspect thought they were shooting a police officer due to the fact that Colt was wearing an NYPD windbreaker when he was shot. Now consider Hicks' hatred of cops. Most people in real life know that police officers rarely ever sit in the backseat of patrol cars. Frank and Danny use the term "cop killer" even though the victim survived with fairly minor injuries[[note]]three rounds were absorbed by his bulletproof vest and one lightly grazed his neck; he was also conscious and on the phone with his publisher within a couple hours of the shooting[[/note]]. Based upon the known evidence at the time, it should have been apparent and assumed that Colt was being targeted specifically and not mistaken for a cop -- since if the shooter's intent was to kill the officers, he probably would have shot them while they were still on the street and distracted by the reporter. Erin was the only one to properly assess the situation in that no one was killed and it was not a cop involved but a reporter.
** In "Occupational Hazards":
*** When arresting a woman that's running a fraudulent charity that's been using the NYPD emblem, Frank tells her that three other cities have arrest warrants for her and that New York will have to wait. While such a scenario could happen in real life, it'd be more likely to be the case if she was wanted for more serious charges in those other cities. Upon taking her into custody, the state of New York would have the choice of trying her there first or allowing her to be extradited.
*** Twice do characters break police protocol. For instance, when Erin was being followed by the bikers, protocol would be to call for a Radio Mobile Patrol (RMP) car to assist, rather than drive to Danny's precinct. Likewise, when the bomb suspect was at the union meeting, protocol would be to have the sector RMP car respond to assist as they would be far closer, or alternately, to call ESU in.
** In "Drawing Dead," when discussing Marcus Greene, a 14-year-old boy shot dead by a police officer, Erin informs a companion from the DA's office that the boy had a juvenile record for gun possession. The companion asks, "Aren't those usually sealed?" to which Erin replies by implying that she got them by calling in a favor. Juvenile records are sealed to the public but remain available to prosecutors, and any expungement of a juvenile record (the only means by which the record would be permanently unavailable even to prosecutors) is unlikely to occur until the person reaches age 18, and certainly not within two years after the original delinquency charge.
** In "Family Ties," Chelsea Cole, a banker who has handled kickbacks for corrupt deputy mayor Randy St. Clair says, "Where our clients' money comes from is not our concern." Actually, it is. By law, American banks are required to notify law enforcement when they find any evidence that their clients are involved in money laundering or any form of criminal activity. It's justified because as it turns out, she was the lover of the deputy mayor's aide, and they were both accomplices to St. Clair's corruption.
** In "The Road to Hell":
*** Nicky and her friends are pulled over while she's doing designated driver duty for them. An officer finds a controlled substance in the backseat[[note]]the reason he did so is because Nicky's passengers mouthed off to the cops. Since the cops were led to assume that they were hiding something, he looked them over and found the drugs[[/note]]. When they don't immediately tell him who the owner is, they all get arrested. While a field test of the drugs is done, it's done AFTER the arrest. In reality, it's required to be done BEFORE the arrest. After that, the baggie has to be tested for prints, and then the possession is construed to be where it was located, in this situation the girl behind the driver.
*** Not to mention that arresting everyone in the car -- especially before any presumptive field test was performed -- could be construed by a lawyer as a bad arrest. Proper procedure with any criminal investigation with multiple suspects in the same room/vehicle is to split up the occupants and question them, and only after Mirandizing them (and we see a more proper version of this in the same episode as Danny and Baez deal with four women who are confessing to the same murder). An immediate arrest would not be necessary if no physical or constructive possession could readily be proved. The evidence could have been vouchered and tested for latent prints.
*** A troubled boy has been stealing money from the church that Frank goes to. Frank talks to the pastor, and learns that the boy took over $3,500 from the poor box. But the vic also says that he doesn't want to press charges against the boy. The theft of $3,500 is enough to qualify for grand larceny, which is a more severe offense, and depending on the circumstances, means the D.A.'s office may be required to press charges, regardless of the victim's wishes.
** In "New Rules" and "The Art of War", two things:
*** Erin is put in charge of handling warrants for Danny's case, the murder of a deputy chief and his wife. As said before, since she and Danny are siblings, she would have to recuse herself from such a case because of the conflict of interest at hand. Furthermore, they'd be allowed to detain Mario Hunt for up to 48 hours before they'd have to release him.
*** Such a case would probably be handled by the NYPD Gang Division rather than the Major Cases Unit.
*** In "The Art of War," Danny's lead witness is killed in the hospital. In the course of the shooting, Linda is hit by a few stray bullets and hospitalized as a result. Danny continues to be assigned to the investigation. In real life, he would be required to pass the case off to someone else, again because of conflict of interest (his wife is now among the collateral victims in the case, and such a thing could cloud his judgment). He wouldn't even be allowed to stand in the same room as the shooter, out of reasonable fear that he might take his anger out on the shooter, which could jeopardize the case.
** In "Fresh Start," a man who went through the Fresh Start program has been arrested and accused of shooting a police officer. Yet the officers seem somewhat incompetent in that they don't bother to test the arrested man's hands for gunpowder residue.
*** Furthermore, where were all of the much-vaunted NYPD detectives, who SHOULD have been the ones to investigate the crime? As soon as it became known that the arrested guy did NOT shoot the cop, it's the responsibility of the ''police'', not the D.A.'s office, to find the true shooter. They didn't even consult with anyone at the NYPD. (Yes Anthony is technically from the NYPD, but it's not the same thing.)
** In "Manhattan Queens", someone is doing cannonball speed-runs around Manhattan and taunting the NYPD while doing so. Abigail Baker, Frank's secretary, says she's identified the person as Suffolk County deputy chief Salvatore [=DeLuca=], who's been repeatedly asking her out despite her turning him down. Her evidence is, in her words, the hundreds of voice messages he's left for her, the juiciest of which she says she's saved in case his gestures escalate to harassment. Most states would probably consider that sort of behavior to be ''stalking''. Also, for this to be happening against the Commissioner's secretary without him noticing is a bit suspicious. Furthermore, that Baker could make a positive ID on the voice should've been enough to at least have [=DeLuca=] brought in for questioning.
** In "Help Me, Help You," Erin files a complaint against her mentor, a judge who's been imposing harsh sentences on defendants tried in his courtroom ever since his wife was killed in a DWI incident (which does get said judge to realize what Erin's been trying to tell him face-to-face -- that he's been letting his grief cloud his judgment). While Erin did the right thing, and anyone can file a complaint against a judge, it usually involves people directly connected with a case. In the first scenario with the first-time offender who got the maximum sentence, the defense attorney certainly should've filed a complaint, as well as made an appeal for an Eighth Amendment violation (cruel and unusual punishment) and prevailed. Same goes for the other scenario, where evidence got tossed -- the defense attorney would've appealed.
** In "Through the Looking Glass," a reporter gets an anonymous interview with the man who set a hobo on fire in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood. When told by Frank to give up the killer, she refuses, claiming she's protected by the First Amendment, which it certainly does not when other peoples' lives might be at stake.
** In "Blast from the Past," an officer named Thomas Scully is up for promotion to Sergeant. Thing is, he was acquitted in the death of a Muslim teenager [[ShootHimHeHasAWallet who was shot 61 times while reaching for his wallet in a dark apartment]]. It's mentioned that the other three officers who were with Scully were also acquitted and resigned after the trial. In real life, it'd be highly unlikely he'd keep his job, since the NYPD, like every other police department, has really strict conduct guidelines. Which means officers can be punished (up to and including loss of job) for misconduct regardless of any criminal trial.[[note]]Which was shown in a season 4 episode where an officer used an illegal chokehold on a suspect in a precinct bathroom -- he wasn't indicted, but he lost his job because he broke protocol.[[/note]] Absent something like a political connection, he'd have been let go, ''and'' he would have been blacklisted by the department. He'd be placed under a microscope and would be written up for any number of minor violations. Long story short, he'd be run out of the NYPD and probably blackballed at every other police force.
*** Not to mention that by singling out Officer Scully and subjecting him to added scrutiny beyond the promotional process, Frank would open the NYPD to civil action. Indirectly denying him the promotion or making punitive conditions prior to awarding it would practically make it a guarantee.
** From what's shown, it seems that Mayor Carter Poole was elected into office in 2011, and was successfully reelected in 2015, with this implying that mayoral elections in New York City come in the off-year before a Presidential election cycle. In reality, the mayoral election cycle in New York City happens during the off-year after a Presidential election cycle.
** In "The Greater Good," Danny is being hauled before a grand jury over his fatal shooting of Thomas Wilder. Frank refers to Danny's issue as a case of DoubleJeopardy. But Danny was never brought to trial, so double jeopardy would not apply. Furthermore, during the grand jury hearings, Nicky is on the stand and asked what Danny said to Wilder on the other end of the phone conversations. She caves in 2 seconds and not only tells them verbatim, but says it word for word in dramatic fashion. Thing is, her mom is the ADA and was there when Wilder died, so Erin should have prepped her beforehand.
** In "Family Business", Jackie Curatola is trying to locate Danny, abducted by Benjamin Walker. When the cab dispatcher is uncooperative, she threatens him at gunpoint into giving up the location of the cab Danny is in. The reason why she doesn't face any consequences for this is due to the "exigent circumstances" rule (someone's life is in grave danger), which only applies to conducting searches without warrants, not making threats against people.
** In "Love Lost", a suspects confession is excluded from evidence because he hadn't been read his MirandaRights before giving. However, he gave the confession spontaneously, so it would be admissible.
** In "Heavy Is the Head" it's said that the New York state governor can fire Frank, the NYPD Commissioner. However, only the Mayor of New York City can do this--which the show mentioned itself in a previous episode.
** "Milestones" has Edie object to Jamie putting an injured man in their car to transport him for a hospital because it's faster than an ambulance, citing liability. Good Samaritan laws, however, immunize people attempting to help others, and a police officer would likely know it.

** Every time a suspect asks for a lawyer, the interrogator continues asking questions, hoping to pressure the suspect into talking. Even Inspector Ridley who is characterized by her belief in following the system, does so. In reality, the police ''must'' end an interrogation the moment a suspect asks for legal counsel, and can only resume once a lawyer has arrived. [[LoopholeAbuse While there ARE instances where cops try to skirt around this]], they usually try to do so by changing the subject or asserting that their past or present questions weren't part of any "official" interrogation, not by simply ''ignoring'' the request as seen in this show. If they do, and it's recorded, anything they get after this is unusable in court.
** [[BailEqualsFreedom Shades making bail]] is treated as if he skated on all criminal charges he was facing. Posting bail is not the same thing as "cleared of all charges." Bail is a fee you pay to be released from jail, with the guarantee that you will make your appearance in court. If you don't appear, you'll be tracked down and arrested, then put in jail until your trial, plus faced with a bail-jumping charge too. Furthermore, people on bail tend to be subject to various other restrictions on what activities they can engage in[[note]]like not being allowed to make contact with their criminal associates, or not allowed to travel outside a certain area, etc.[[/note]], meaning Misty would've had grounds to rearrest Shades on a bail violation when she, Luke and Claire caught him and Mariah at Pops' barbershop. Furthermore, given the charges Shades had been facing, it's very unlikely an arraignment judge would've even considered bail for him in the first place. (Though it's possible the judges in this case were bribed; as evidenced by the fact that in season 2, Mariah and Shades bribe a judge into granting Arturo Rey bail after Arturo gets pinched for trying to kill Luke with a Judas shotgun)
*** When Inspector Ridley is interrogating Shades, she says that as Shades was a participant in Diamondback's hostage situation, he is facing multiple kidnapping with weapon charges. This seems to ignore the fact that one of the hostages (Damon Boone) was killed, so in real life, Shades wouldn't just be charged with kidnapping and illegal possession of a firearm, he'd also be charged with FelonyMurder. And given that the victim was a prominent city councilman, Shades would certainly be denied bail.
** Luke's backstory plays fast and loose with human research ethics (which have been codified into law since World War II). FDA regulations explicitly forbid the use of prisoners in research providing no direct benefit, except in very specific cases (most of which require that the research have no or minimal risk). They also forbid using reduced sentencing as an incentive toward consent--that's textbook coercion. That said, Seagate doesn't seem to be overly concerned with legality, so they may be fully aware that they are breaking the law. It could be argued that this illegality was also among the many things Foggy used in his appeal to get Luke released from prison at the start of ''The Defenders''.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In "[[Recap/TheHandmaidsTaleS4E9Progress Progress]]" Mark Tuello would have no authority to release the Waterfords in return for their intelligence. They were being tried in the International Criminal Court, not in an American one, and Tuello is a representative of the American Government. There is also the fact that June's testimony is now a matter of court record, as is Fred's outburst where he admitted that he raped her. June should still therefore be able to press charges against both of the Waterfords. Even with this, it is possible that the ICC is more involved in trying to help the Americans and it is possible that the plea deal is between the Waterfords and them, with Tuello having made the deal which the prosecutor agree to. For instance, the ICC may realize that with a new source of intelligence like Waterford, they can possibly help bring down the Gilead regime and do far more than just the conviction of one Commander.

* ''Series/TheWhiteLotus'': No matter how clear a case of self-defense Shane might've had, there is no way in hell that the fallout of Armond's death would be resolved in less than 24 hours, and both Shane and Armond's body ready to leave the island in that timeframe.

*** Fun fact: Due to the way child pornography laws are written, that is, saying a PERSON commits the crime by producing a sexualised image of a child, an underaged girl sexting pictures of herself does fit under child pornography law. Thankfully, whilst children have been arrested and taken to court for these charges, no child has ever been given a prison sentence for it and prosecutions of this kind will (depending on the situation) eaither end with the charges being dropped or the child being prohibited from using social media for a few months (which is just like being grounded from internet). Part of this is because, as said before, juvenile courts don’t have the power to give prison sentences and the fact that no adult court would ever except a case where a child is guilty of innocently taking selfies, especially considering it’s not a crime for an adult to sexting pictures of themselves unless they were using those images for other crimes (like sexual harassment).

* ''Series/HowToGetAwayWithMurder'': The main student characters are all first year law students. In the United States, first year law students aren't allowed to work more than twenty hours per week if they're full time students -- it's a rule in place by the American Bar Association to allow the students to focus on their educations. Obviously though, following that rule would lead to less drama for the show, so Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.

* Another British example is ''Judge John Deed''. Shall we count the ways?
** The eponymous judicial hero allows the jury to 'reconsider' their verdict on the basis of what the accused says just before sentence is passed. [[spoiler:They change their minds and let him go.]]
** Judge Deed is sleeping with a pretty barrister, has a barrister for an ex-wife AND a barrister for a daughter (eventually). All three appear before him, with no one mentioning the clear conflict of interest at hand.
** After realizing the [[GovernmentConspiracy whole establishment is out to get him]], said Judge begins a very public crusade to get the Home Secretary (a very senior politician) fired. In fairness, the Home Secretary is a complete ratbag who takes bribes from people who arrange the murder of a dangerous witness and make [[ProperlyParanoid at least two attempts on Deed's life]]. From outside ''Deed'' looks like Hollywood Law, from inside he looks like TheLastDJ.
** After deciding that a jury has been tampered with, Judge Deed [[spoiler:decides that they should have found him guilty and, without any investigation as to jury tampering at all, puts the suspect in jail so there can be a retrial.]] The defense barrister is completely ignored, even after saying the magic words of "habeas corpus" and asking for directions to the Court of Appeal.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': In the third season, a police officer announces that Jason has "admitted to the robbery." However, a "robbery" means stealing something directly from a victim by force, threats or intimidation, such as holding up a bank or mugging someone. Given Jason's personality and the fact that he's free within a year, the show obviously meant "larceny," which is stealing things without this means.

** As pointed out in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHWVaZweGI this video by Legal Eagle]], the pilot episode, which is portrayed as a case of entrapment and general miscarriage of justice, was anything but, with the defendant in question had already made the decision to attempt to destroy the Statue of Liberty, and taken the predicate acts to do so.

** Kirkman has Governor Royce arrested for treason when he blocks his adviser from getting off a plane in Michigan, plus possibly having the National Guard refuse Kirkman's orders. These are crimes, but hardly treason. Under American law, this is defined solely as levying war against the USA or giving aid to its enemies. Kirkman must know treason is a rare charge to make that will not stand up in court. He could already have him arrested for violating the civil rights of Muslims by having them detained without charge (though the Governor, SmugSnake that he was, pretty much made it clear that as long as Kirkman was acting President he would disobey any order to a point short of actual secession, so there is that).

** A common example throughout the series is Olivia's constant assertion that their job is to believe the victim. The police certainly do have an obligation to treat victims sympathetically. But their job is to investigate and determine the truth, not to take victims at their word and only look for evidence that supports their claim. Several episodes show exactly why this is a bad idea, with "victims" making false accusations or at least not telling the whole truth.

** "Hubris": A warrant is issued to search the suspect's apartment but the courier hasn't brought it yet. Knowing the suspect will get there before the warrant, Det. Green sticks a toothpick in his lock to keep him from entering. The courier arrives a few seconds later and the police bust in and seize a videotape of the murders. The judge tosses the tape since the police secured the area before they had the warrant (even though they had reason to believe he'd destroy the evidence and were well aware the warrant had been issued). It is also ''totally'' legal to secure a scene if there's a concrete possibility that the evidence will be removed, destroyed, or otherwise endangered before the search warrant arrives. What the police ''can't'' do is start poking around, looking in drawers and such, before the warrant arrives.[[note]]As an example, if the police had strong reason to suspect that a criminal had evidence on his computer, they could secure the location and prevent the criminals from touching it. They couldn't actually fire it up and look at the contents until the warrant arrived, though.[[/note]]

** In an older episode, a guy beats his girlfriend (with her consent) to cause a miscarriage and frame the rich lawyer they intended to sue, taking careful measure to ensure the fetus was under 24 weeks old so they could avoid going to prison. Ben and the others act like there is nothing they can do and have to use all sorts of legal loopholes, never mind the original couple conspired to commit blackmail, perjury, defamation, entrapment, and fraud.

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' utilized the same Hollywood Law trope in every episode-- while also being something of a JerkAss: Columbo would basically disguise his surveillance of a suspect, by pretending to simply question the person as a witness-- ''nonstop'' throughout the episode. In this manner he would thus badger, harass and trick the suspect into revealing evidence that would eventually convict them. This is highly illegal, breaching many various civil and ethical protections against police abuse and harassment; however, even when suspects complain about Columbo's nonstop harassment in order to end it, this proved no avail, as Columbo would simply claim that it "proves" that the person is guilty, and that "he's touching a nerve." This made Columbo into more of a VigilanteMan than a policeman, since he was ''always'' right, and never incorrectly harasses an innocent person: however in reality, the law is not made to presume that the police are always right, but to protect the citizen's presumption of innocence. For evidence why this is necessary, you need only look at people who have been wrongly convicted of crimes due in part to overzealous police and prosecutors who are completely sure of their guilt.
** This fits the mold of most "{{Cop Show}}s," i.e. the police are always right, even when ''torturing'' suspects (e.g. Sipowicz in ''Series/NYPDBlue''). The moral is that it's smart to trade liberty for security, since the villain always uses his rights to get OffOnATechnicality through LoopholeAbuse.

** It's joked that perhaps these errors on Columbo's behalf are the reason he's always been a lieutenant and never been promoted.

* In ''Series/NorthernExposure'', a young Jewish doctor named Joel Fleischman (Creator/RobMorrow) goes to medical school for free, in exchange for agreeing to practice in an Anchorage, Alaska, hospital for four years. However when the contract falls through and he is released from it, he then finds that the [[ReadTheFinePrint Fine Print]] sentences him to a 15-year prison sentence, if he fails to practice for ''four'' years in the boondock town of "Cicily" instead (the legality of which is likewise confirmed by an AmoralAttorney). Such a contract is not only legally impossible, but would in fact constitute ''involuntary servitude'' under the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution--needless to say this is completely illegal. Insult is added to injury, likewise, when the doctor later learns that the contract somehow binds him to ''five'' years of practice, rather than four (actually a shallowly disguised plot device to extend the series). In addition, the doctor is threatened with death by a {{Vigilante}}, if Fleischman tries to break it. In actuality, the doctor could only be subject to civil suit for damages, as well as possible revocation of his medical license; and a death threat naturally is a crime by itself. While this would sway most people, the writers clearly chose to pursue Hollywood Law (as well as VigilanteExecution) as the first in a long series of many tropes which would later characterize the series.

* ''Series/KungFu2021'': In ''Sacrifice'', Nicky decides to travel to China "tonight" to try to find the Forge. In real life, an American citizen can't just hop the next plane to China (or many other foreign countries) on a whim; they need a visa from the foreign country's government first, a process that typically takes weeks.

** Season 1 suggests that David Palmer (then a senator) and Jack Bauer came to know each other when the former headed up a Senate subcommittee that Bauer's unit did operations for. In real life the military is exclusively under the authority of the executive branch; a Senate subcommittee might be keeping a close eye on such a unit but do not have any authority tell them what to do.

** Season 1 suggests that David Palmer (then a senator) and Jack Bauer came to know each other when the former headed up a Senate subcommittee that Bauer's unit did operations for. In real life the military is exclusively under the authority of the executive branch; a Senate subcommittee might be keeping a close eye on such a unit but can't in any way tell them what to do.
** One plot point in Season 2 features a coup against President Palmer, attempting to invoke the Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, to remove him from office by declaring him unfit to serve. The show makes it seem like it's a matter of a simple majority vote by the Cabinet, and the President is tossed out on his ear. In RealLife, the situation is far more complex. For one, the request to remove the President has to be submitted in writing to Congress, and the President is allowed to submit his own opinion on the matter. And long deliberations would likely ensue. The 25th Amendment, or at least Section 4, has never actually been invoked, so it's hard to say exactly what the process would look like. But it would undoubtedly take days, maybe weeks, and not a couple hours like on the show.

** In one instance, Columbo is visiting the suspect -- lawyer Oscar Finch at his office. While waiting in the office for the guy to come in, Columbo takes a piece of gum out of the wastebasket. Later he shows it to the suspect, as well as the piece of bitten cheese from the crime scene.[[note]]The suspect has a very uniquely shaped canine. The impression shows up on both.[[/note]] Problems include: the wastebasket was in the office, and does ''not'' come under the 'garbage is public property' ruling; the trash has to be out at the curb, in a dumpster, etc. Also, any ''real'' forensic detective would have ''fits'' at Columbo hauling around a vital piece of evidence like that cheese like that, in a plastic bag, without even an evidence label. Broken custody chain of evidence = darn near impossible to use in court.

** Martin, a former police detective, also recounts a MirandaRights example, where he lied about having fully read them when the suspect actually broke free mid-way through and he had to chase him down. As shown above, the failure to Mirandize does not make an arrest invalid, and even if it did, the interruption was the suspect's fault, so he had no need to lie about it at all. Martin also says he ''saw'' the suspect shoot someone, and so his MirandaRights would be utterly irrelevant.

** In "Be My Guest" Sherlock goes after a man holding a woman captive without telling the police, saying they wouldn't have enough evidence to get a warrant. Which is not true, since he read the man's lips showing he was conspiring to have her murdered, and saw a photo of her on his phone with a chain around her neck. Based on his testimony, that would be more than enough for a warrant, which Sherlock being not only a highly knowledgeable genius but having worked with the police for years, should know by now.

** In the end, a "guilty" verdict is rendered, despite this being a civil case (civil cases are ruled in favor of the plaintiff or defendant, only criminal trials use guilty and not guilty). Not to mention that despite there being a jury present throughout the trial, its the judge who renders the "guilty" verdict, then determines what damages will be paid. These are the main, and only, functions of a jury at trial.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In "[[Recap/TheHandmaidsTaleS4E9Progress Progress]]" Mark Tuello would have no authority to release the Waterfords in return for their intelligence. They were being tried in the International Criminal Court, not in an American one, and Tuello is representative of the American Government. There is also the fact that June's testimony is now a matter of court record, as is Fred's outburst where he admitted that he raped her. June should still therefore be able to press charges against both of the Waterfords. Even with this, it is possible that the ICC is more involved in trying to help the Americans and it is possible that the plea deal is between the Waterfords and them, with Tuello having made the deal which the prosecutor agree to. For instance, the ICC may realize that with a new source of intelligence like Waterford, they can possibly help bring down the Gilead regime and do far more than just the conviction of one Commander.

* The series ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' sets up the series premise with the most egregious case of HollywoodLaw, when Alan's disgruntled divorce lawyer (Heather Locklear) exacts personal revenge on Charlie by deliberately giving Alan's ex-wife everything possible in the divorce settlement-- ''right in front of Alan.'' Not only would this be non-binding due to legal ethics violations, but a client can overrule an attorney at any time, or simply fire them; they don't have ''carte blanche'' to do as they please over a client's objection. [[RealityEnsues Which is what Alan naturally does]] but now has to find a new lawyer and still has to pay the previous ones bills. In reality, he not only wouldn't have to pay, but could sue her for this. Not to mention have her disbarred.

*** Ultimately, Season 3 takes this case of Hollywood Law and ends up [[RealityEnsues applying reality to it]], when Jimmy tips off the insurance company about Chuck's mental illness. This causes them to raise malpractice premiums on ''all'' of HHM's practicing attorneys[[note]]While Jimmy did this with malicious intentions, some fans have pointed out that even if he hadn't, the insurance company would have inevitably found out about the illness on their own, just much later; Jimmy just made the inevitable happen sooner[[/note]]. Howard's patience with Chuck was already growing thin, and the insurance premiums going up because of Chuck's illness proves to be the straw that breaks the camel's back between them.