Off on a Technicality: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

''My high-priced lawyer sprung me on a technicality,''

 

The criminal is caught, comes up for a trial—and then it turns out that he wasn't read his [[Miranda Warning]], or the [[Cowboy Cop]] forgot to get a search warrant, or the confession was obtained via [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]. The judge is forced to throw the case out and the (alleged) crook walks free.

 

{{examples}}

* The [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Big Bad]] Gouda almost gets off with this in the second season of ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]''. {{spoiler|Luckily, the Prime Minister has a technicality of her own; a piece of legislation which allows her to [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them|give Section 9 a great deal of "discretion"]] in detaining Gouda on the grounds that he's an important asset to the country.}} Something of a [[Chekhov's Gun]], since the same law was brought up in an earlier episode.

** The reason he nearly gets off? Apparently in [[Ghost in the Shell]]-world simply turning yourself in absolves you of all responsibility for your crimes, even when said crimes involve {{spoiler|conspiracy to nuke civilians and treason.}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20170212171759/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ghost_in_the_Shell:_S.A.C._2nd_GIG_episodes], [https://web.archive.org/web/20170831075819/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ghost_in_the_Shell:_Stand_Alone_Complex_episodes]

*** Parker tries to bring it up during class, and the teacher ''gives him detention.'' The implication is that everybody knows he bought the cops off, and is therefore the de facto master of the city - and their lives are at risk if they bring it up.

 

* In a ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic titled ''Growing Up Black'', years after Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban, some of his relatives started having doubts about his guilt, decided to check the facts and found out he wasn't allowed to have a trial. They got him free by invoking a law stating that no pureblood can be forced to spend more than one month in Azkaban without a trial and that all charges against purebloods who are forced to stay more than that time there must be dropped. Sure, he's innocent, but since this is not what got him off, it can arguably be counted as a technicality.

** Actually, while the law invoked to get him free was supposed to work regardless of Sirius being guilty or not, the relative who brought the case to the Wizengamot did point out reasons to doubt his guilt before invoking the law. However, people who don't believe Sirius Black's innocence usually say he got Off on a Technicality. It doesn't help that his family had to pull some strings just to have a chance to plead Sirius' case.

** ''[[Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash The Nightmare Warriors]]'' also presents another possible reason for why Freddy managed to walk - a time displaced FBI agent (long story) impulsively tampered with his file and the paperwork within.

* The film ''[[The Star Chamber]]'' is about a group of vigilante judges tired of crooks getting let off on technicalities.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Liar Liar]]'', {{spoiler|until the end.}}

* In the Al Pacino movie [[And Justice for All]], the character Jay has a nervous breakdown when a man he got off on murder kills a couple children.

* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'': In ''The Short Victorious War'', Harrington learns the reason Young was not removed from command after the events in “On Basilisk Station”. He used a [[Loophole Abuse|loophole]] to give his return to the shipyard for repairs a legal basis.

** Specifically, if all of a ship's senior officers testify in writing that a starship requires emergency repairs, then regulations require that it return to the shipyard ASAP for emergency repairs. Even if it could actually have gone months more before needing maintenance.

* In the [[H. Beam Piper]] story "Lone Star Planet", set on [[Everything Is Big in Texas|New Texas]], the new Solar League ambassador, Stephen Silk, has to arrange this for the three men who assassinated the last Ambassador. The logic was that on New Texas, politicians are defined as ''literal'' [[Acceptable Targets]] - you're only punished for killing a politician if the court's opinion is that said pollie didn't have it coming - and this specialised court was the venue for the assassination trial. However, defining ambassadors as practicing politicians would lead to some very awkward precedent, meaning that Silk has to first build a conclusive case around them, then remind everyone that it's the wrong court, and New Texan double jeopardy laws meant there couldn't be a retrial. {{spoiler|Of course, since it's a cowboy planet, you can freely carry guns into court unless you're the defendant, and after the verdict of "technically not guilty and it's a damn shame" is handed down, Silk proves that there's no technicality that will get you off a bullet through the head by gunning down all three at once. Quoth the judge: "Court-is-hereby-adjourned-until-0900-tomorrow-''hit-the-deck!''"}}

* The district attorney in the book version of ''[[Clear and Present Danger]]'' takes pride in the fact that he has ''never'' lost a case on technical grounds. This is not same same as never losing a case ever, but is still impressive.

* Very often, technicalities (for example, improperly collected evidence or confessions) will result in a retrial with said data excluded, not a defendant "getting off scot-free". Ernesto Miranda himself was convicted on retrial, and went to prison.

* One exception is throwing out a criminal charge because the case took too long to go to trial (an issue which has plagued the Canadian legal system).

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Artistic License Law]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]