History Series / Conviction2016

* AssholeVictim: Rodney Landon is an Islamophobic terrorist so extreme he thinks ''all'' Muslims should be wiped out. [[spoiler: He was framed for a bombing, while having planned to kill far more.]]

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: [[spoiler:In order to prevent terrorist Rodney Landon from getting released after discovering he had planned another bombing from the one he was convicted of (but that the evidence for this isn't legally usable), Sam spreads a rumor in the prison that Landon is getting released because he snitched on them. This causes them to attack him and he naturally fights back, stabbing another prisoner and insuring he'll stay in prison.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In "Dropping Bombs", Hayes decides to review the case of Rodney Landon, an Islamophobe who was busted for bombing a mosque by the Counter-Terrorism Unit, just to piss off Wallace and the politically-powerful CTU. However, [[spoiler:her investigation reveals that the evidence that was used to convict Landon was illegally obtained, meaning that not only does he get a new trial, but he's almost certain to get exonerated, because all the evidence was gathered based on information gleaned from the original, illegally-obtained evidence. And then, of course, she finds out that Landon truly was innocent of the bombing.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:In order to prevent would-be terrorist Rodney Landon from getting released, Sam spreads a rumor among the guy's prison buddies that Landon's case is getting reviewed because he snitched on them. This causes them to attack him and he naturally fights back, causing him to get locked up again.]]

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:In order to prevent would-be terrorist Rodney Landon from getting released, Sam spreads a rumor among the guy's prison buddies that Landon's case is getting reviewed because he snitched on them. This causes them to attack him and he naturally fights back, causing him to get locked up again.]]

* EasyAmnesia: A victim was brutally beaten and as a result of the trauma she did not remember the attack or the few hours before it. The police had to rely on forensic evidence to determine when and how the attack occurred. [[spoiler: The police got the time of the attack wrong and did not realize that the woman had consensual sex before the attack and was not raped by her attacker.]]

* ReallyGetsAround: When Wallace brings up that Hayes had been sleeping with a law student of hers, she corrects him that she'd slept with ''several'' students. Later on, when somebody brings up the rumor that she was the "campus bike", she says that "He wasn't far off". In the second episode she wakes up in bed next to a strange man and merely checks if he is alive. We then find out that he is a waiter she picked up at a party the previous night.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The second episode's "Prospect 3" case has similiarities to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case Central Park 5 case]], which was coincidentally back in the headlines when the episode aired because of comments made by Presidential candidate Creator/DonaldTrump claiming they were really guilty, despite them having been exonerated with DNA evidence. However this has a [[RaceLift race-reversed portrayal]] from the real life case, with a black victim and white suspects. [[spoiler:One of them also actually is guilty, unlike the real suspects.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The second episode's "Prospect 3" case has similiarities to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case Central Park 5 case]], which was coincidentally back in the headlines when the episode aired because of comments made by Presidential candidate Creator/DonaldTrump claiming they were really guilty, despite them having been exonerated with DNA evidence. However this has a [[RaceLift race-reversed portrayal]] from the real life case, with a black victim and white suspects. [[spoiler: One of them also actually is guilty, unlike the real suspects.]]

* StoppedClock: When the victim of a crime was beaten so badly that she lost all memory of the attack and the previous hours, the police used her broken watch to determine when the attack occurred. [[spoiler: The watch was actually broken accidentally an hour earlier.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The second episode's "Prospect 3" case has similiarities to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case Central Park 5 case]], which was coincidentally back in the headlines when the episode aired because of comments made by Presidential candidate Creator/DonaldTrump.

* StoppedClock: When the victim of a crime was beaten so badly that she lost all memory of the attack and the previous hours, the police used her broken watch to determine when the attack occurred. [[spoiler: The watch was actually broken accidentally and hour earlier.]]

* ReallyGetsAround: When Wallace brings up that Hayes had been sleeping with a law student of hers, she corrects him that she'd slept with ''several'' students. Later on, when somebody brings up the rumor that she was the "campus bike", she says that "He wasn't far off".

* GenreSavvy: Wallace (correctly) guesses that because of who Hayes is she'll pick one of his cases for review.

* ReallyGetsAround: When Wallace brings up that Hayes had been sleeping with a law student of hers, she corrects him that she'd slept with ''several'' students. Later on when somebody brings up the rumour that she was the campus bike she says, "He wasn't far off".

* OldShame: In-universe, Tess went to work for the Innocence Project and later for the [=CIU=] out of guilt because when she'd been a child her identification of a suspect had sent them to prison, while later DNA evidence had exonerated them.

* GenreSavvy: Hayes can be superficial and ditzy, but is also very aware of what's really going on around her, as she deduces very quickly that Sam is reporting back to Wallace in hopes of furthering his career. She's also aware that she was initially picked by Wallace to lead the unit to make him look good and enhance ''his'' political career.

* ToughLove: Hayes' mother informs her that if she screws up with the Convictions Integrity Unit, the family will turn her cocaine-possession charge into possession-with-an-intent-to-distribute in order to stop her from further embarrassing them.

* RightBehindYou: Hayes rather nonchalantly proclaims that the team can get "another good-looking black prison boy" to exonerate if they can't do a quick one with the convict's case before CIU. Unfortunately, his mother walked in and overheard everything as she was standing behind Hayes.

* GenreSavvy: Hayes can be superficial and ditzy, but is also very aware of what's really going on around her, as she deduces very quickly that Sam is reporting back to Wallace in hopes of furthering his career.

* RightBehindYou: Hayes rather nonchalantly proclaims that the team can get "another good-looking black prison boy" to exonerate if they can't do a quick one with the convict's case before CIU. Unfortunately, his mother walked in and overheard everything.

* ReallyGetsAround: When Wallace brings up that Hayes had been sleeping with a law student of hers, she corrects him that she'd slept with ''several'' students. Later on when somebody brings up the rumour that she was the campus bike she says "He wasn't far off".

* ReallyGetsAround: When Wallace brings up that Hayes had been sleeping with a law student of hers, she corrects him that she'd slept with ''several'' students. Later on when somebody brings up the rumour that she was the campus bike she says "He wasnt far off".

'''Conviction''' is a legal drama airing on ABC, starring Creator/HayleyAtwell.

* OldShame: Tess went to work for the Innocence Project and later for the [=CIU=] out of guilt because when she'd been a child her identification of a suspect had sent them to prison, while later DNA evidence had exonerated them.

* TwoferTokenMinority: Frankie Cruz is Latino and [[spoiler:gay]].

* ReallyGetsAround: When Wallace brings up that Hayes had been sleeping with a law student of hers, she corrects him that she'd slept with ''several'' students.

* MutualAssuredDestruction: Hayes informs Wallace that if he tries to blackmail her with the cocaine charge, she'll rat him out for burying the case to blackmail her. When he tries to one-up her by saying it will ruin her mother's senatorial campaign, her reaction is quite clearly indicating she doesn't care.