Lying to the Perp: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Death Note]]'', this is tried several times on the quite-guilty Light by the person investigating him. Notably, the time when {{spoiler|Light uses the built-in amnesiac loophole and turns himself in for observation; he's continually told the murders have stopped, even after they've started again. Later, Light's own father informs him he's about to be executed and pretends to ''shoot him in the face'' in an attempt to see whether he or Misa would use their powers to kill him.}}

** L is pretty much constantly lying to Light regarding how much suspicion he is under.

*** To clarify, he hasn't ever had a friend, but Light isn't one.

** Light pulls something like this himself at one point early on. In an attempt to convince them to go along with him, Light tells one character that he has kidnapped "her." While Light is bluffing and has no idea who "she" is, the character still gives in.

== Live-Action TV ==

* Even the venerable Lt. ''[[Columbo]]'' isn't immune to it. Upon finding that his victim wore contact lenses, he mentions that the right one is missing, and probably fell where she died. The perp breaks into the garage where his car is being held, searches it madly, and finds the missing contact, only to be surprised by Lt. Columbo and the victim's husband. Caught, the perp admits to the murder. Later, the husband notes it's luck that one of his wife's contacts fell out this way. Columbo replies that the corpse still has both its contact lenses; he lied to the perp and has no idea where that lens in the car came from.

** ''Homicide'' again: Detective Bayliss convinces a perp that his special camera can detect the image of the last thing a murder victim had seen by photographing the dead man's eyes.

** One more ''Homicide'' example: faced with an unflappable perp, a dog-lover who had used arson to conceal a murder, the detective asks, offhand, "We found a dog in the wreckage. Why'd you kill the dog?", a total fabrication. Without thinking, the perp reflexively answers, "I didn't know the dog was there."

** Another episode had an interesting variant when Sara and Catherine, without comment, brought in a bag issued to employees of an airline the victim worked for. "Well?" Sara asks. The suspect, talking over his lawyer's attempted warnings, then tried to point out that the bag was inadmissible because they didn't have a warrant to search his car. Then Sara informed him that the bag didn't belong to the victim but did contain a recording device.

* In the ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|Law And Order: Special Victims Unit]]'' episode "Legacy," Munch tells a victim's mother that her comatose daughter has awakened and "told us everything." After the mother confesses, we find out the little girl is still in a coma.

** This one is from ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent|Criminal Intent]]'' (the first episode, even): Goren convinces the girlfriend of a narcissist perp to help them by convincing her that he gave her AIDS. At the end, when he finds out she betrayed him, she shouted "You killed us both anyway!" to which Eames reveals that neither of them had AIDS after all, to which Goren half-heartedly admits "I lied. Sorry."

*** There was also at least one where they lied not only to the perp, but to the ADA. "Ah...I see," he responds, clearly ''pissed''.

* ''[[NYPD Blue]]'': Two lies used frequently were: A) A vehicle was involved in an accident and your license plate number was reported, it's probably just a mix-up but we have to do the paperwork; B) [Victim having died without identifying anyone] 1. The victim is talking and has identified you so it'll go easier if you confess, 2. You should write out a confession telling your side of the story, 3. The victim is dead, you're going away for murder based on your confession, you SOB.

** In one case the detectives convince a suspect to take part in a lineup by telling him that he'll be a ringer and that the lineup is for an unrelated crime.

** Another time, a character convinced a serial killer who was holding him at gunpoint not to kill him right away by claiming "I know why you stutter". Not only did the investigator not know why this particular man stuttered, but ''nobody knows'' why stuttering occurs (though there are theories).

** There's also the absolutely brilliant climax of "Masterpiece". Rossi tricks an arrogant Unsub into thinking that he's killed the entire team (save Garcia and Rossi himself) through a trap in his house. Believing that there's no evidence to convict him, he confesses all the details... and Rossi asks Garcia "Did you get all that?" Turns out, the team is very much alive, having figured out the trap long beforehand. As Rossi himself points out, he teaches hostage negotiation at Quantico.

** Also notable for using this to rule ''out'' [[False Confession|False Confessors]].

{{quote|'''Gideon''': Is that why you stabbed him in the groin?"

 

== Western Animation ==

 

 

[[Category:Perp Sweating]]

[[Category:Truth and Lies]]