Off on a Technicality: Difference between revisions

== Literature ==

* ''[[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.

* In [[Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire|the fourth]] [[Harry Potter]] book, it was revealed that, when Lord Voldemort murdered his muggle father and his father's parents, the [[Muggles]] believed Frank Bryce, the caretaker of the mansion where he lived, committed the murders. Bryce was not charged because the forensics experts failed to establish a cause of death - the Killing Curse doesn't leave signs that can be noticed without magic - but the villagers remained sure Bryce was guilty...somehow.

* 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.

* One minor character in the [[Tim Dorsey]] novel ''Florida Roadkill'' got himself and his friends off on a technicality when they were arrested for drunk driving and possession of alcohol when they were in high school. He found an obscure law that proved that the officer who arrested them didn't have valid grounds to pull them over, and since all further evidence was taken from a technically illegal police stop, it was inadmissible in court. He wins the case and grows up to be a DA.

 

== Live-Action TV ==