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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Judge:''' Mr. Wright, are you indicting the witness as the real murderer?
'''Phoenix:''' Of course! That is precisely what I am doing!|''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
A [[Courtroom Antic]] which involves accusing an unlikely or controversial witness of being the perpetrator of the
An unscrupulous cousin to [[The Perry Mason Method]].
{{examples|
== Anime and Manga ==
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== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[[
* This happens in ''[[Fan Fic/Devils Attorney|Devils Attorney]]'' as well, although it isn't as heavy on the [[Tear Jerker]] part. Mostly because {{spoiler|[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
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* The prosecuting attorneys on ''[[Law and Order]]'' have occasionally filed charges against a family member of their real suspect in order to pressure them into a confession, plea bargain or other "short-cut" resolution to the case.
** They'll also occasionally threaten to expose personal information that the defendant would rather go to jail than have made public (which seldom raises any questions as to whether they might be innocent and confessing ''just'' to keep their secret hidden), to achieve the same end. In both instances, the DAs will lampshade the desperation nature of the ploy, plus the likelihood that if the defendant doesn't bite, the presiding judge may not even let them follow through on their threat.
* Subverted in ''[[Homicide: Life
** The first episode of Matlock uses this same scene almost exactly, except his client was innocent (his clients are always innocent), and so, also looks.
** It's also used in the 1987 film ''From the Hip'', with Judd Nelson as the defense attorney and John Hurt as the accused; this time, it's Nelson who notices his client didn't look, and Hurt defends himself by scoffing at it as being too obviously theatrical a stunt to take seriously.
** And again in Boston Legal, even the prosecutor remarks that he saw it on Perry Mason once. In this case Alan Shore sees that his client doesn't look and thus blackmails her into taking a plea bargain offer.
** All of these are likely based on [http://www.snopes.com/legal/nobody.asp an urban legend] commonly attached to the 1959 trial of Leonard Ewing Scott (one of the more notable "no body" murder trials).
* ''[[Bones]]'': In "The Verdict in the Story", the defense at Max Brennan's murder trial establishes reasonable doubt by showing that the murder could've been committed by {{spoiler|Temperance, who, working with the defense, is the one who came up with the idea of pulling a Plan B on herself}}.
* ''[[The Practice]]'', the [[Trope Namer]], is, of course, known for this trope. One notable example is when in which Lindsay actually accuses the {{spoiler|defendant's wife}} of conspiracy to commit murder out of the blue as the first question in her cross-examination! {{spoiler|Then again, the accusation was true; Lindsay had a [[Eureka Moment]] through an action the wife took while being questioned by the prosecutor. The suddenness and accuracy of Lindsay's accusation caused the wife to panic and plead the Fifth, leading to the judge directing a not guilty verdict and saving the defendant.}}
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** One plot involved the firm being sued on charges of slander over one particular instance of them trying this. In his closing argument, Jimmy says that there was honour in them doing this, ''not'' because the guy they accused probably did it, but because he probably didn't; it was a soul-destroying thing to accuse him, but they did it anyway, because it was their duty to give their client the best possible defence.
* Alan Shore of ''[[Boston Legal]]'' is defending a woman whose much older husband died in mysterious cirmcumstances, leaving his entire fortune to her. Their housekeeper is on the stand, and giving a fairly damning account of the defendant's behaviour. While she does this, Alan is stretching his arms and limbering up. He thanks her, then spins around and points at her in the most dramatic way possible:
{{quote|
** Another example is when Jeffrey is defending a young man accused of killing a judge he was in a relationship with. He, seemingly spontaneously, accuses the man's mother, currently testifying, of being the actual murderer. It's later revealed that this was actually the mother's idea to take suspicion of her son.
* Sort of referenced in ''[[The Defenders]]'', where Nick knows that his client's alibi witness is the real killer, but can't tell anyone. He says that the jury never buys "the other guy did it", even when the other guy ''did'' do it. {{spoiler|And this is enough for the real killer to confess to Nick, knowing he would just lie on the stand if asked. The Nick pulls out a tape recorder.}}
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Done in virtually ''every'' case in ''[[
** In the third case of the first game, Phoenix actually ''does'' intentionally accuse a completely innocent party purely to buy another day of investigation. In the process, she reveals that Global Studios Executives {{spoiler|which includes the real killer}} were at the studios that day, purely to save herself, and this enables Phoenix to get closer to uncovering the truth.
*** Given that the innocent party in that case was {{spoiler|Windy...er, Wendy Oldbag}}, that example was kind of funny. A distinctly [[Dude, Not Funny|less amusing]] instance comes in the fourth case of the second game, where you are [[But Thou Must!|forced]] to accuse {{spoiler|Adrian Andrews}}, who by this point is [[The Woobie|woobie-tastic]], just to buy time.
*** It gets pretty confusing by case 5 of game 3, where Phoenix doesn't even know who to accuse, and in the end {{spoiler|isn't even sure what crime has been committed (homicide or justifiable homicide). For fully three days, he doesn't accuse ''anyone''.}}
** Used in the last case of ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations:
* In the fifth episode of ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* This was spoofed on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' when Bart and Lisa accuse, during Sideshow Bob's trial, [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|obvious Rush Limbaugh stand-in]] Birchibald Barlowe of being the true mastermind behind rigging the mayoral election. Bob will not stand for this. He immediately produces every piece of detailed evidence proving that he and only he could have effected such a triumph, including monogrammed leather files entitled "Bob's Fraud Log", volumes I-VI.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Courtroom Antic Tropes]]
[[Category:
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