Clear Their Name: Difference between revisions

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Keitner'''}}: ''I need proof. Hard evidence I can take to Interpol.''<br />

'''Jenson''': ''An entire prison full of kidnapped civilians isn't enough?'' <br />

{{spoiler|'''Keitner'''}}: ''You're an ex-cop, Jenson; you tell me. How many death row inmates crying on about their innocence have you seen getting out?''<br />

And sometimes, the person accused of the crime is someone else, who is incapable of proving their own innocence. Maybe they've already been arrested or convicted, and had the key thrown away long ago. Maybe the evidence is stacked up against them and almost nobody believes them. Maybe they're just not badass enough to do it themselves. Either way, it's up to the [[Big Damn Heroes]] to buck the odds and naysayers, find the evidence and [['''Clear Their Name]]'''.

The poor sap locked up will usually have one person -- oftenperson—often a beloved relative or a best friend (who's actually in love with them, hence their fixated devotion) -- who remains committed to their cause, and who brings in the often-initially skeptical heroes to investigate the case. In some cases, the loved one's devotion to the wrongfully accused will persist even if the wrongfully accused has given hope of being acquitted. If the hero's good enough, they may learn of the case independently and offer their services to the skeptical police, who are convinced they've got the right person locked up. In some cases, the police might be corrupt and [[Frame-Up|actively perpetuating]] a [[Miscarriage of Justice]] in order to obscure the true culprit or another crime.

Given the nature of the trope, it usually occurs in media which involves defense attorneys or [[Private Detective|Private Detectives]]s unaffiliated by the police, although particularly conscientious police officers may find themselves also working to clear some innocent's name.

* [[Sherlock Holmes]] did ''not'' commonly deal with this type of investigation in the original Doyle mysteries; however, several of the stories were reworked for the Granada televised series in such a way as to ''make'' them into this. Such an episode frequently begins with [[Inspector Lestrade]] or one of his peers smugly gloating to Holmes [[Genre Blindness|that it's an open-and-shut case this time, and that the person Lestrade's got locked up is definitely the killer, no questions asked]]. Some examples which originally ''were'' (or became) [[Clear Their Name|Clear Their Names]] in one way, shape or form, however, were:

* In one episode of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', Uncle Scrooge is sentenced to prison for the theft of a priceless piece of art, thanks to some pretty damning evidence -- footageevidence—footage from the museum security camera. Huey, Dewey and Louie believe in his innocence, however, and ultimately uncover the proof that {{spoiler|it was really Flintheart Glomgold in an Uncle Scrooge costume}}.