History Main / IDidntMeanToKillHim

* It comes out as TheReveal in Creator/AndrewVachss's Burke novel that [[spoiler:the apparent murderers of Melissa Turnbridge had meant to BreakTheHaughty FilleFatale by "only" raping her and had not meant to kill her.]]

* ''Film/Munchausen2013': The mother doesn't mean to kill her son but the "feel good" antidote doesn't work in time.

* ''Film/Munchausen2015': The mother doesn't mean to kill her son but the "feel good" antidote doesn't work in time.

* In ''Dead Famous'' by Ben Elton, it's mentioned that Detective Coleridge has witnessed many deaths that arose from family arguments; the perpetrators usually giving some form of this line ("I couldn't stand her anymore", "He drove me to it"), and horrified that they ended up killing someone.

* ''Film/{{Munchausen}}': The mother doesn't mean to kill her son but the "feel good" antidote doesn't work in time.

* In ''Disney/TheLionKing'', Simba says this when Scar framed him for killing his father.

* "It was just a joke!", when a [[DeadlyPrank prank or practical joke]] [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]].

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': In a moment of panic Tim beat Johnny Warlock to death after the villain drained the LifeEnergy from a group of cops and then cornered Tim and Stephanie. Due to Johnny's powers he'd seemed rather invincible so Tim hadn't expected his panicked attack to do such damage. Johnny's powers were due to a magical object impaled through his heart and he got up and walked out of the morgue a couple of days later, but Tim spent at least a month unaware that the undead magic user had "survived" and [[TheseHandsHaveKilled nearly stopped being Robin out of guilt]].

* In ''Dead Famous'' by Ben Elton, it's mentioned that Detective Coleridge has witnessed many deaths that arose from family arguments; the perpetrators usually giving some form of this line ("I couldn't stand her any more", "He drove me to it"), and horrified that they ended up killing someone.
* In the Literature/{{Dragonlance}} book ''Dragons of Spring Dawning'', we find out that Berem rarely talks or even interacts with the outside world because in his mind, he's reliving the day that [[spoiler:he accidentally killed his sister, Jasla. He was prying a gemstone out of a ruined temple, and Jasla told him to stop. She grabbed him and, in a rage, he shoved her, causing her to fall and get impaled on a stone fragment. Turns out that the death of Jasla is what allowed Takhisis to come back to Krynn and set in motion the War of the Lance]].

'''Scar:''' Of course, ''of course'' you didn't. [[BlatantLies No-one ever]] ''[[BlatantLies means]]'' [[BlatantLies for these things to happen.]]

* Used pretty much word-for-word in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', after someone botches a TapOnTheHead and kills the recipient outright instead of merely putting him out of action for a while.

* An episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'', Loco Motives, features a multiple murderer who explains that he didn't mean to kill anyone. He just happens to be prone to causing fatal accidents.
** Variants of this show up several times on ''Series/{{CSI NY}}''.

* In the BBC series ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode "The Great Game", when they finally confront Andrew West's brother-in-law, he claims he didn't mean to kill him.

->''"You leave her alone!" Woof screamed, and his tiny hands hit the small of Da's back, and Da fell. He tumbled down the stairs, over and over and over again … and he wasn't getting up, and why was his head turned like that? Ma was screaming. She was looking at him and screaming. "I didn't mean it!" Woof cried, the tears streaming down his face … "I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!" He was still yelling the words as he ran out the flat into the rain and mud of Fog Town. "I didn’t mean it!" But he had.''

->''"You leave her alone!" Woof screamed, and his tiny hands hit the small of Da's back, and Da fell. He tumbled down the stairs, over and over and over again … and he wasn't getting up, and why was his head turned like that? Ma was screaming. She was looking at him and screaming. "I didn't mean it!" Woof cried, the tears streaming down his face … "I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!" He was still yelling the words as he ran out the flat into the rain and mud of Fog Town. "I didn’t mean it!" But he had.''

* In ''Film/LaStrada'', Zampanò says this to Gelsomina, trying to explain the death of The Fool — Zampanò only punched him a few times, but after walking away a few steps, The Fool keeled over and died. Zampanò is a circus strongman who apparently DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength, at least when punching.
* ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'': The killer tells the detective who's investigating him (and whom he's blackmailing to help him pin the murder on someone else) that he "didn't mean" to beat his teenage victim to death. When he repeats the same nonsense later on, the detective points out that he knows it took him ''fifteen minutes''.

* [[spoiler:Corrine]] claims this about [[spoiler:Cory's]] death in Creator/VCAndrews' ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'': she says that she thought [[spoiler:putting arsenic on powdered sugar donuts]] would just make [[spoiler:him]] "a little sick ..."

* In ''Dead Famous'' by Ben Elton, it's mentioned that Detective Coleridge has witnessed many deaths that arose from family arguments; the perpetrators usually giving some form of this line ("I couldn't stand her any more", "He drove me to it"), and horrified that they ended up killing someone.
* [[spoiler: Goran's accidental asphyxiation of Madison]] in ''Literature/{{Damned}}''
* Used pretty much word-for-word in ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', after someone botches a TapOnTheHead and kills the recipient outright instead of merely putting him out of action for a while.

* In the BBC series ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode "The Great Game", when they finally confront Andrew West's brother-in-law, he claims he didn't mean to kill him.

* Approximately half of the murders in ''Series/ColdCase'' are accidental in some sense or other.
* The defendant in the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Terminal" claims that when he shot a businesswoman he only intended to wound her, keeping her from cashing a check he couldn't cover, to maintain his appearance as a successful businessman. Adam Schiff gives enough credence to the explanation to resist the governor's call to make it a death penalty case. (The man doesn't seem overly bright.)

* From ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', after helping his friend Malik solve the murder of her friend, Adam will discover the perpetrator to be [[spoiler:Lee Hong, the deceased's boyfriend]]. His defense is that he didn't mean to kill her, just to "shut her stupid mouth." Given his [[{{Jerkass}} demeanor]] and [[LackOfEmpathy lack of remorse]] for beating [[spoiler:his ''pregnant-with-his-child-girlfriend'']] to death, this rings pretty hollow. [[EngineeredPublicConfession Malik gives him his just desserts, though.]]

* Subverted in the Red Ribbon arc of ''Anime/DragonBall''. Goku panics when his kamehameha wave blows off Major Metallitron's head, but it turns out that he survived due to being a robot. [[NighInvulnerable And kept fighting]]... at least until [[WeaksauceWeakness his batteries ran out]].

* "We were having an argument, we said something we didn't mean, and things escalated to the point where we started pushing and shoving, and... I didn't mean to push him (down the stairs/off the cliff/ onto traffic)!"

Compare to AccidentalMurder, where the dead people are accidental collateral damage rather than dead by misaimed intention, and MurderByMistake, where the killer was trying to kill someone ''else'' but got the wrong person.

* During ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', [[spoiler:Super-boy Prime]] after killing [[spoiler:[[CListFodder Baby Wildebeest and Pantha]].]]

* In ''Film/LaStrada'', Zampanò says this to Gelsomina, trying to explain the death of The Fool--Zampanò only punched him a few times, but after walking away a few steps The Fool keeled over and died. Zampanò is a circus strongman who apparently DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength, at least when punching.

* They were having an argument with the victim and accidentally shoved/nudged/chased them over the precipice or down the stairs.

!! Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

** [[spoiler:And Bushido.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

-->'''Simba:''' The wildebeests, and...he tried to save me...It was an accident! I-I-I didn't mean for it to happen!
-->'''Scar:''' Of course, ''of course'' you didn't. [[BlatantLies No one ever]] ''[[BlatantLies means]]'' [[BlatantLies for these things to happen.]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In the revelation sequence from ''Series/{{Mash}}'''s finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen", Hawkeye sobs, "I didn't mean for her to kill it! I just wanted it to be quiet!", referring to [[spoiler:an infant a mother had suffocated intentionally, for the sake of preventing her and the rest of her party from being discovered by the enemy because of the baby's continued crying. Hawkeye had tersely told her at the time, in a moment of desperation, to "Keep that damn thing ''quiet''"]].
** And to make matters worse, [[spoiler:Hawkeye didn't even ''know'' it was a baby at first; he was so stressed from staying awake for the last few days without rest that he thought the baby was a ''chicken'' that wouldn't stop clucking.]]

** In the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince sixth book]], when Harry inadvertently slashes Draco to bits with the ''Sectumsempra'' spell (nearly killing him), he gasps, "No- I didn't-" Granted in this instance it was justified, as he had ''no idea'' of what Sectumsempra would ''do'', instead using it in a moment of desperation due to Malfoy attempting to use the Killing Curse.

* During ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', [[spoiler:Super-boy Prime]] after killing [[spoiler:[[{{C List Fodder}} Baby Wildebeest and Pantha]].]]

* During InfiniteCrisis, [[spoiler:Super-boy Prime]] after killing [[spoiler:[[{{C List Fodder}} Baby Wildebeest and Pantha]].]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Seymour of the original ''Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors'' says something along these lines. He even says this [[spoiler:from inside the plant after his face appears on one of the flowers. His mother and Audrey, of course, are shocked.]]
* Dorothy in the movie version of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' says this about both Wicked Witches. In the book, while she may not have known water would ''kill'' the Witch of the West, she meant to throw it on her.
* In ''Film/LaStrada'', Zampanò says this to Gelsomina, trying to explain the death of The Fool--Zampanò only punched him a few times, but after walking away a few steps The Fool keeled over and died. Zampanò is a circus strongman who apparently DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength, at least when punching.
* ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'': The killer tells the detective who's investigating him (and whom he's blackmailing to help him pin the murder on someone else) that he "didn't mean" to beat his teenage victim to death. When he repeats the same nonsense later on, the detective points out that he knows it took him ''fifteen minutes''.