History HollywoodLaw / LiveActionTV

* ''Innocent'' (2018), a British TV series, has DI Cathy Hudson investigating a case that her boyfriend DI William Beech originally did. This would not be allowed, as it's an obvious conflict of interest (even though she's honest enough to conclude he messed up). It's unclear if her superior knows they're in a relationship, but if not then she should have turned this down herself because of the conflict.

* ''Series/Accused2023'': "Ava's Story" has the judge dismiss all the charges when the parents of Lucie, the baby Ava kidnapped, don't want to go on, as the prosecutor agrees to. In reality, though she might dismiss a reckless endangerment charge in this case (though almost certaintly before the trial began) the kidnapping charge would stand and it's very unlikely the prosecutor wouldn't proceed as it's a very serious crime, no matter what the victim's family wanted (it's not up to them).

* Sam Puckett on ''Series/ICarly'' is arrested for assaulting an ambassador and gets off scot-free and never has to deal with the issue. RuleOfFunny obviously applies.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' often uses the trope of "the legal victim."
** In a famous episode, Frasier and Daphne are sued by jilted super lawyer Donny Douglas, for "breach of (marriage) contract" (Daphne's last-minute refusal to marry Donny) and "tortious interference in a private contract" (via Frasier's meddling). BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage is not grounds for a suit anymore in most jurisdictions. Washington state had also ended punitive damages in suits at the time Donny sought them in his. It also could only be applied against the man who broke his promise to a woman, [[TheUnfairSex never against a woman who broke her promise to a man]]. [[note]]Because women in the days when this tort began typically did not work, they were thus reliant on men for support, and so this amounted to a promise that they would care for them financially that was broken, which is cause to sue someone in similar cases to this day. Another reason is that it was assumed they started screwing while they were engaged, which meant if she didn't marry the guy who deflowered her, she was ruined forever.[[/note]] Also, it is incorrect terminology, since Daphne had never actually ''entered'' into any contract. Donny, a lawyer, should have known he ''himself'' could be sued for doing that (it's called abuse of process). It's also not "tortious interference" for someone to urge a would-be bride to not go through with the marriage (which is not a contract by itself).
** Likewise on an earlier episode, Frasier was deliberately sold a counterfeit painting for $60,000, but is told the police "have their hands full with murders and robberies" so apparently they can't be bothered to investigate this. While it's stated that he ''could'' sue, Martin tells him that he'd end up losing more money than he paid for the painting that way. In reality the police tend to take fraud and grand theft ''very'' seriously, particularly against a rich and influential person such as Frasier, while Martin--having connections due to being a former cop--likely could pull strings to get the case handled quicker as well. Depending on how the art dealer functions, it could also easily be taken federal, since the FBI has an entire division dedicated to fine arts crime.
** 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, at which point his MirandaRights would be utterly irrelevant.

** Marshall had superhunk Brad (played by Joe Manganiello) as his opposing counsel in said civil suit. Brad pretended to be interviewing for a job at Marshall's firm so he could steal their strategy for the case, which is a quick trip to state bar association for disbarrment.

** One episode has Judge Donnelly take a leave of absence from the bench to prosecute a woman who had fled on a murder change years beforehand when Donnelly (the prosecutor on the original case) let her go to the bathroom and she climbed out a window. Not only does this make no sense as she no longer works for the district attorney's office (she would have had to resign when she became a judge), no judge would allow her to act as prosecutor anyway since she clearly had a personal vendetta and was a material witness to the felony escape charge.

* ''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). 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.]]

* ''Series/SWAT2017'': In regards to the composition of LAPD SWAT.
** SWAT Sergeants are shown to have a five man squad under their command; in reality, each Sergeant has two squads of five under their command.
** SWAT Command is depicted as Captain Cortez and Commander Hicks overseeing the Sergeants. In reality, SWAT command consists of six Sergeants and one Lieutenant.
** Deacon is a Sergeant, serving as 20-Squad’s second-in-command. In reality, Deacon would be leading his own squad with that rank.
** Newly promoted Sergeants are depicted as inheriting the callsign of the departing Sergeant; in reality, the callsigns are designated by seniority. Additionally, the 30-David callsign would be reserved for a squad leader, rather than being assigned to Deacon as second in command.

* ''{{Series/Primeval}}'': Episode 3 of Season 1 has an incident where [[ItMakesSenseInContext a lifeguard is swallowed whole by a Mosasaur in a swimming pool]]. The lifeguard's girlfriend reports the incident to the police, telling them she saw a "sea monster." They refuse to believe her claim and decide to have her not only arrested, but charged with murder, deciding that it's "obvious she killed her boyfriend." There are many problems with this. Firstly, as the police admit themselves, there was no body, and therefore, no proof he was even dead. At this point, the lifeguard would be declared missing, not dead. The only "evidence" they have of his demise is the girlfriend reporting him dead, except she specifically said he was EATEN BY A SEA MONSTER, not that she killed him. Granted, the idea of sea monsters coming out of swimming pools and then disappearing is a hard thing to believe, but if that's the case, then her entire report, including the part where she said her boyfriend is dead, should be considered unreliable. There is also the fact that the police have zero evidence she committed the murder, despite how "obvious" they say it is, meaning she should not have been charged, and would still just be a suspect.
* ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw'': In the eighth episode of the first season, [[Series/Daredevil2015 Matt Murdock]] makes his highly-anticipated guest appearance and faces off against Jen in court. This ignores the fact that in the United States, law licenses are state-level. Every state and territory has its own bar exam that an attorney must pass in order to practice law there, and there is no mention that the New York-based Matt is licensed to practice in California.

* ''{{Series/Primeval}}'': Episode 3 of Season 1 has an incident where [[ItMakesSenseInContext a lifeguard is swallowed whole by a Mosasaur in a swimming pool]]. The lifeguard's girlfriend reports the incident to the police, telling them she saw a "sea monster". They refuse to believe her claim and decide to have her, not only arrested, but charged with murder, deciding that it's "obvious she killed her boyfriend". There are many problems with this. Firstly, as the police admit themselves, there was no body, and therefore, not proof he was even dead. At this point, the life guard would be declared missing, not dead. The only "evidence" they have of his demise is the girldfriend reporting him dead, except she specifically said he was EATEN BY A SEA MONSTER, not that she killed him. Granted, the idea of sea monsters coming out of swimming pools and then disappearing is a hard thing to belive, but if that's the case, then her entire report, including the part where she said her boyfriend is dead, should be considered unreiliable. There is also the fact that the police have zero evidence she committed the murder, despite how "obvious" they say it is, meaning she should not have been charged, and would still just be a suspect.

* ''{{Series/Primeval}}'': Episode 3 of Season 1 has an incidence where [[ItMakesSenseInContext a lifeguard is swallowed whole by a Mosasaur in a swimming pool]]. The lifeguard's girlfriend reports the incidence to the police, telling them she saw a "sea monster". They refuse to believe her claim and decide to have her, not only arrested, but charged with murder, deciding that it's "obiouse she killed her boyfriend". There are many problems with this. Firstly, as the police admit themselves, their was no body, and therefor, not proof he was even dead. at this point, the life guard would be delared missing not dead. The only "evidence" they have of his demise is the girldfriend reporting him dead, except she specifically said he was EATEN BY A SEA MONSTER, not that she killed him. Granted, the idea of sea monsters coming out of swimming pools and then dissapering is a hard thing to belive, but if that's the case, then her entire report, including the part where she said her boyfriend is dead, should be considered unreiliable. There is also the fact that the police have zero evidence she commited the murder, despite how "obiouse" they say it is, meaning she should not have been charged, and would still just be a suspect.

*** Another interpretation of the scene is that Martin may be lying when he tells this story. It would account for the insistency, and Martin's entire reason for telling this story is to make the point that sometimes it's okay to lie, when you're trying to get someone to make the right decision. It would be very fitting if the story itself turned out to be a lie, told in the interests of getting Frasier to make the right decision

* ''Series/AllRise'': "Fire and Rain" sees stolen property excluded as evidence because it was obtained through a search warrant with an error (the wrong witness' name). However, this is covered by the "good faith exception" to the exclusionary rule, as the police didn't know there was a problem with the search warrant, so they didn't commit intentional misconduct.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Special Service", after John Selig discovers that [[TrumanShowPlot he has been secretly filmed for five years and is the subject of a hit cable TV show]], he demands that it be taken off the air as he has rights. The JSTV executive Arthur Spence gives John a copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights and sarcastically asks him to point out where it says that they can't put his life on TV. John counters that this is a technicality. John's right though-he has rights, and they can't film him secretly nor make use of his name/image without permission. He could get an injunction forcing them to stop. They do stop after he insists, and give him a million dollars for the profit they'd made off him.

** In "Kill Shot", [[spoiler:the millionaire hires a hitman to kill him, because his life insurance won't pay out if he commits suicide.]] This isn't the case for most insurance, nearing ImpossibleInsurance-most life insurance will pay out for suicide if it's over two years since the policy began, to prevent people simply buying it then killing themselves so their beneficiary gets the money.

*** The irony is, there ''are'' valid reasons to terminate Jeri Hogarth. She has committed jury tampering, which is grounds for disbarment; asking Jessica to rough up Wendy as inducement to sign a divorce agreement was a crime; having an affair with her secretary Pam, which while not a crime was an HR nightmare waiting to happen, and they had to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit from Pam; attempting to use Kilgrave to secure Wendy’s signature on divorce papers resulted in Wendy’s death; her illegal purchase of a handgun from Turk Barrett to later use in a homicide (making Jeri guilty of murder by proxy); her ruining Kith's marriage and driving Peter to suicide (in season 3); and it's up for debate whether her entertaining with HookersAndBlow was illegal. But instead of going after Jeri for any of her serious ethical breaches as grounds for termination, Chao and Benowitz picked discrimination against someone with a disability as their beach to die on. Not the best legal strategy.

*** The irony is, there ''are'' valid reasons to terminate Jeri Hogarth. She has committed jury tampering, which is grounds for disbarment; asking Jessica to rough up Wendy as inducement to sign a divorce agreement was a crime; having an affair with her secretary Pam, which while not a crime was an HR nightmare waiting to happen, and they had to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit from Pam; attempting to use Kilgrave to secure Wendy’s signature on divorce papers resulted in Wendy’s death; her illegal purchase of a handgun from Turk Barrett to later use in a homicide (making Jeri guilty of murder by proxy); her ruining Kith's marriage and driving Peter to suicide (in season 3); and it's up for debate whether her entertaining with HookersAndBlow was illegal.
*** Throw in the fact that Jeri’s practice includes criminal defense (cases like Jessica, her mother, Hope, etc, plus a lot of Foggy and Marci's cases), patent litigation, and estates (her work with Danny Rand), [[OmnidisciplinaryLawyer which are all highly specialized practice areas]]. This is like a doctor who is an orthodontist, vascular surgeon, and pediatrician. Sure, it is possible, just highly unlikely. Moreover, Jeri’s malpractice insurance has to be expensive.
*** But instead of going after Jeri for any of her serious ethical breaches as grounds for termination, Chao and Benowitz picked discrimination against someone with a disability as their beach to die on. Not the best legal strategy.

* ''Series/InTheDark'': A busted taillight isn't enough to warrant searching a vehicle. While the reason to stop them was faked, Gene already called in the excuse for dispatch, which would make it difficult assuming he'd actually found drugs by his search of the back.

** In the same case, the attempted murder conviction gets reversed when the witness who'd testified indicated he was recanting. You'd need a sworn affidavit minimally, probably testimony in open court subject to cross-examination, or else the judge certaintly wouldn't do this (and probably not even this, if there's other evidence, like this case had). It also comes out that the original attorney didn't put on an exculpatory witness-that alone might have been enough to get the conviction overturned for ineffective assistance of counsel, though no one mentions this.

* ''Series/MsMarvel2022'': In "[[Recap/MsMarvel2022S1E1GenerationWhy Generation Why]]" Kamala is shown taking her DrivingTest on a public road. In real life, New Jersey requires all driving tests take place at an official Motor Vehicle Commission testing site. Weirdly, this is lampshaded, with Muneeba accusing the instructor of "setting her up to fail" by holding the test on a public road.

* ''Series/DexterNewBlood'': Even if Angela could prove Dexter killed Matt and Jasper, it does not prove he killed anyone in Florida, so in reality, he could not be extradited. As Dexter left behind no physical evidence in Florida that he was the Bay Harbor Butcher, it's unlikely Laguerta's fIle contains anything definitive.

** In "Venom", Darius Parker gets a judge to throw out damning evidence against him (including a full confession) because he had made a comment earlier in the interrogation to the effect that he had a lawyer representing him in an unrelated case. In reality, it's extremely unlikely that any judge would rule that the detectives could reasonably be expected to interpret an offhanded, apparently conversational mention of a lawyer as him invoking his right to counsel, especially since in retrospect it was pretty clearly an intentional setup by Darius. What's more, the judge pretty much says flat-out that it's thin but that he's granting the suppression just to make an example because he feels the police department in general has been playing a bit fast and loose with right to counsel provisions; that alone should be good enough to get the ruling overturned on appeal, as he's basically admitting that he wasn't judging the motion on its own merit.

** In "Venom", Darius Parker gets a judge to throw out damning evidence against him (including a full confession) because he had made a comment earlier in the interrogation to the effect that he had a lawyer representing him in an unrelated case. In reality, it's extremely unlikely that any judge would rule that the detectives could reasonably be expected to interpret an offhanded, apparently conversational mention of a lawyer as him invoking his right to counsel, especially since in retrospect it was pretty clearly an intentional setup by Darius. What's more, the judge effectively admits it's sketchy but that he's granting the suppression just to make an example because he feels the police department in general has been playing a bit fast and loose with right to counsel provisions; that alone should be good enough to get the ruling overturned on appeal.

* ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'': Petra's claim that she had a right to Rafael and Jane's baby is ridiculous on the face of it and never should have been a serious legal threat.

** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S6E9DreamWeaver Dream Weaver]]" has one. In the United States, judges do not have the power to pardon a convicted criminal. This may have been a flub by the character though (e.g. the judge overturned his conviction or ordered an early release).
* ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'': Some of the ManipulativeBitch legal maneuvering that Petra pulls off to harass Raf would never hold up for a second in court.