History Main / DestroyTheEvidence

* In ''FinalFantasyX'', Tromell destroys the sphere revealing that [[spoiler:Seymour killed his father]] because "The Guado deal with Guado affairs".
* A small subversion occurs in Act IV of ''Fanfic/LegendsOfEquestria''. In order to help out the Flimflam brothers in their lawsuit against the Apple family, Celestia has to cover-up a key piece of evidence. However, here she can't simply destroy it, as it is in public custody and destroying would create more questions. Instead, she simply establishes a [[VastBureaucracy miles-long chain of custody]] and buries the whole thing under a mountain of red tape, hoping the Apples will run out of money to pay their legal fees before they can discover anything.

* Invader Zim does this in a bathroom screaming: [[LargeHam LEAVE NO EVIDENCE]]

* A small subversion occurs in Act IV of Fanfic/LegendsOfEquestria. In order to help out the Flimflam brothers in their lawsuit against the Apple family, Celestia has to cover-up a key piece of evidence. However, here she can't simply destroy it, as it is in public custody and destroying would create more questions. Instead, she simply establishes a [[VastBureaucracy miles-long chain of custody]] and buries the whole thing under a mountain of red tape, hoping the Apples will run out of money to pay their legal fees before they can discover anything.

* In ''FinalFantasyX'', Tromell destroys the sphere revealing that [[spoiler:Seymour killed his father]] because "The Guado deal with Guado affairs".

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', Captain Carrot destroys the evidence that [[spoiler: he's the rightful king of Ankh-Morpork,]] because he doesn't think it needs a king anymore.

* The evidence could incriminate someone else who the hero likes and doesn't want to see punished.
* The evidence, if made public, will ruin the victim's life (or the life of someone involved in the crime).
* The hero is being blackmailed by the BigBad or an associate.
* The hero would be incriminated by the evidence.
* The evidence contains information which would exonerate another villain who is on trial for another crime.
* The evidence, if involving a dead person, might [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead cast a bad light on their memory]] -- and the hero was a good friend/relative/lover of the dead person.
* The evidence is entirely worthless -- it's too late to act.
* The hero wants to [[VigilanteMan punish the bad guy himself]].
* While the evidence could get the bad guy put away or otherwise punished, it would cause scandals and create chaos for a lot of people, some who may be entirely innocent.
* The evidence would reveal [[DirtyBusiness an ugly truth]] about a past event that the public perceives as a good thing, and the hero wants the event to stay a good thing.
* The criminal committed the crime for a [[IDidWhatIHadToDo good]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight reason]], and in retrospect the hero agrees that the act was justified.
* The crime involved the murder of someone who was [[AssholeVictim a truly terrible person]], and the hero doesn't want the evidence revealed, since it would result in someone going to prison for something he doesn't think of as a crime.

* In VeronicaMars, Logan comes into possession of [[spoiler: the sex tapes of his girlfriend and his father]], and he destroys them so [[spoiler: they wouldn't be seen in court and ruin Lilly's memory.]]
* In the WhateleyUniverse, Kodiak destroys tapes of [[spoiler: the Don (and probably more of the Alphas) abusing and raping Skybolt and Cavalier, who were MindRaped into being obedient slaves]] because he knows that should the tapes get out, sooner or later the entire school would see them- and any chance of [[spoiler: Skybolt and Cavalier]] having a normal life once they get released from the psych ward would be ruined.
* There's an accidental case in ''[[PhryneFisher Dead Man's Chest]]'' by Kerry Greenwood. At a wake held for a dead woman, Phryne steals a pillowcase dropped by a maid that she finds to be suspicious- it [[spoiler: has teeth imprints and a stiff patch, indicating that the old woman was murdered by being smothered with the pillow.]] At the end of the novel, Phryne's maid Dot washes the pillowcase and returns it, not realising that it was important.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Gibbs [[spoiler: switches tissue samples so that it will appear that a body they're trying to identify was that of a dead Marine- the Marine (who is dead) had had a kidney transplant from a friend, who was still alive. Because you can't be a Marine if at some point in your life you donated an organ]], the Marine, if this became known, would have to quit- which he ''really'' didn't want to do.

* In one of the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, he discovers the identity of the murderer, who was a SympatheticMurderer, and tells his friend, a policeman, a hypothetical story of who he thinks is the murderer and how it happened (he's actually telling him the real story) but since another has confessed and later killed himself, the policeman tells him to let it drop. Wimsey later reflects that he could, if he wanted, prove the case, though he doesn't want to.
* In ''Players of {{Gor}}'' Cabot learns of a plot by Cos, Tyros, Brundisium and [[SixthRangerTraitor certain factions in Ar]] to attack Ar. He gets the evidence, then learns that it's actually happening right now. The evidence is now worthless so he burns it. Plus he plans to exact his own revenge.

* In a season of TheDukesOfHazzard the phrase "The boys got off, because there wasn't any evidence" is about guaranteed to occur in at least a third of the episodes. Frequently the lack of evidence is a result of it being sunk in a pond, set on fire, blown up or in some other fashion destroyed. Sometimes the destruction is even intentional.

* In ''FinalFantasyX'', Tromell destroys the sphere revealing that [[spoiler:Seymour killed his father]] because "The Guado deal with Guado affairs".

** In case 1-5, Lana Skye deliberately distorted evidence relating to the SL-9 incident partially in order to get Joe Darke convicted, but mainly to [[spoiler: prevent her sister from being charged with murder]]. Later, Phoenix doesn't want to present a certain piece of evidence for the same reason - it implicates someone he doesn't want to see get in trouble.

* In case 1-5 of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'', Lana Skye deliberately distorted evidence relating to the SL-9 incident partially in order to get Joe Darke convicted, but mainly to [[spoiler: prevent her sister from being charged with murder]]. Later, Phoenix doesn't want to present a certain piece of evidence for the same reason - it implicates someone he doesn't want to see get in trouble.

* Done multiple times in the ''AceAttorney'' series, usually by the defendants. Often they're trying to protect someone they care about from incrimination, even at the cost of their own freedom.

** Special mention to [[spoiler: Detective Badd]] in ''AceAttorneyInvestigations'' who destroyed evidence relating to [[spoiler: the Yatagarasu. As head of the investigation he was in a perfect position no traces were ever found at the crime scene.]] Why? [[spoiler: He ''was'' a member of the Yatagarasu.]]

See also LeaveNoWitnesses, EatTheEvidence, KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade, and TreacheryCoverUp.

* In the DS version of PhoenixWrightAceAttorney, Lana Skye deliberately distorted evidence relating to the SL-9 incident partially in order to get Joe Darke convicted, but mainly to [[spoiler: prevent her sister from being charged with murder]]. Later, Phoenix doesn't want to present a certain piece of evidence for the same reason - it implicates someone he doesn't want to see get in trouble.

* In one episode of {{NCIS}}, Gibbs [[spoiler: switches tissue samples so that it will appear that a body they're trying to identify was that of a dead Marine- the Marine (who is dead) had had a kidney transplant from a friend, who was still alive. Because you can't be a Marine if at some point in your life you donated an organ]], the Marine, if this became known, would have to quit- which he ''really'' didn't want to do.
** Another {{NCIS}} example. In the end of one episode Gibbs realizes that a bad guy was killed with the prayer beads of a man the bad guy himself murdered, a marine and the son of a local Imam. Gibbs knows that this means the marine's father killed the bad guy to avenge his son's death, and the Imam should be arrested for murder himself. But when Ziva mentions that the prayer beads belong to the original victim Gibbs denies it, and she let's it pass.

Whatever good intentions the hero may have had, destroying the evidence will probably have bad results- a villain could walk free, for instance. May result in a WhatTheHellHero.

* The criminal committed the crime for a [[IDidWhatIHadToDo a good]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight reason]], and in retrospect the hero agrees that the act was justified.

* The evidence, if involving a dead person, might cast a bad light on their memory- and the hero was a good friend/relative/lover of the dead person.
* The evidence is entirely worthless- it's too late to act.
* The hero wants to punish the bad guy himself.

* The evidence would reveal an ugly truth about a past event that the public perceives as a good thing, and the hero wants the event to stay a good thing.
* The crime was committed for a good reason, or the criminal had a good reason to commit the crime.
* The crime involved the murder of someone who was a truly terrible person, and the hero doesn't want the evidence revealed, since it would result in someone going to prison for something he doesn't think of as a crime.
* The hero is currently on the run/not on good terms with the local authorities, so he can't give the evidence to them without being captured/killed/arrested.

See also LeaveNoWitnesses, EatTheEvidence and KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade.

* At the end of at least one episode of ''JonathanCreek'', ("[[spoiler: The Scented Room]]" is the one I'm thinking of, although it ''may'' also have happened in "[[spoiler: Devil's Chimney]]") the title character lets the culprit go, on the grounds that they're not really that bad.

* ''{{Dexter}}'' has been known to mess with or destroy evidence to ensure that particularly bad criminals go free... so he can hunt them down and kill them instead of letting them have a government-sponsored vacation at prison.

* There's a FarSide cartoon with a rat in aa prison cell telling his cellmate "I ''would'' have gotten away scot free if I'd gotten rid of the evidence... But shoot, I'm a packrat".
* The SinCity story ''The Big Fat Kill'' involves destroying a [[ItMakesSenseInContext decapited head]] in order to avoid a GangWar between the mob and the local prostitutes.

* Unusual {{Music}} example: Billy Talent song "Burn the Evidence."

* There's an accidental case in ''[[PhryneFisher Death By Water]]'' by Kerry Greenwood. At a wake held for a dead woman, Phryne steals a pillowcase dropped by a maid that she finds to be suspicious- it [[spoiler: has teeth imprints and a stiff patch, indicating that the old woman was murdered by being smothered with the pillow.]] At the end of the novel, Phryne's maid Dot washes the pillowcase and returns it, not realising that it was important.

* In ''Players of {{Gor}}'' Cabot learns of a plot by Cos, Tyros, Brundisium and [[SixthColumn certain factions in Ar]] to attack Ar. He gets the evidence, then learns that it's actually happening right now. The evidence is now worthless so he burns it. Plus he plans to exact his own revenge.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''MenAtArms'', Captain Carrot destroys the evidence that [[spoiler: he's the rightful king of Ankh-Morpork,]] because he doesn't think it needs a king anymore.