History Main / MistakenConfession

* In PresumedInnocent, as DA Sabich is point-blank accused of killing his colleague/ex-lover by another colleague, he angrily snaps at him, "Yeah, you're right. You're always right!" Following his arrest, his colleague declares his intent to testify at the trial, claiming that Sabich admitted to the crime. Fortunately the judge realizes that Sabich was no doubt being facetious and blasts the other lawyer for foolishly assuming otherwise.

* In PresumedInnocent, as DA Sabich is point-blank accused of killing his colleague/ex-lover by another colleague, he angrily snaps at him, "Yeah, you're right. You're always right!" Following his arrest, his colleague declares his intent to testify at the trial, claiming that Sabich admitted to the crime. Fortunately the judge realizes that Sabich was no doubt being facetious and blasts the other lawyer for assuming otherwise.

* In PresumedInnocent, as DA Sabich is point-blank accused of killing his colleague/ex-lover by another colleague, he angrily snaps at him, "Yeah, you're right. You're always right!" Following his arrest, his colleague declares his intent to testify at the trial, claiming that Sabich confessed to the crime. Fortunately the judge realizes that Sabich was no doubt being facetious and blasts the other lawyer for his deliberate failure to realize that.

* Famously played for laughs in ''[=~There's Something About Mary~=]'' where Ted confesses to picking up a hitchhiker when he's actually under arrest for murder.

* Played straight on the ''{{CSI}}''-''WithoutATrace'' crossover, in a bit of an IdiotPlot moment.

!Examples

* In the play ''The Miser'' by french author Moliere, the titular miser, Harpagon, accuses his servant Valere of stealing his stash of money. Valere thinks he is talking about his daughter promising to marry Valere. [[HilarityEnsues This misunderstanding goes on as Valere talks about the beautiful eyes of Harpagon's 'treasure'...]]

* In the Tintin book ''Flight 714'', the millionaire Laszlo Carreidas is kidnapped and injected with a truth serum in an attempt to force him to reveal the details of his {{Swiss bank account}}. But instead of revealing the relevant details, Carreidas engages in boastful rants about his underhanded exploits, much to the annoyance of his captors. HilarityEnsues when Rastapopoulos, the mastermind behind Carreidas' capture, is accidentally injected with the serum in a struggle.

* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Pinkie decides to interrogate Spike to find out [[ForgottenBirthday why her friends are ignoring her]]...

* The Colonel does one of these in the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp", [[spoiler:confessing to having been faking his need for a wheelchair for nearly ten years when the pointing finger of accusations seems to be on him. Agatha Christie then goes on to say "Actually, I was going to say you were completely innocent..."]]

* Played for laughs in ''TheGoonies''. When the Fratellis catch Chunk and order him to tell everything under threat of shredding his arm in a blender, he proceeds to tell them every bad thing he's done in his life.

* In the Tintin book ''Flight 714'', the millionaire Laszlo Carreidas is injected with a truth serum in an attempt to force him to reveal the details of his {{Swiss bank account}}. But instead of revealing the relevant details, Carreidas engages in boastful rants about his underhanded exploits, much to the annoyance of his captors. HilarityEnsues when Rastapopoulos, the mastermind behind Carreidas' capture, is accidentally injected with the serum in a struggle.

* In the Tintin book ''Flight 714'', the millionaire Laszlo Carreidas is injected with a truth serum in an attempt to force him to reveal the details of his Swiss bank account. But instead of revealing the relevant details, Carreidas engages in boastful rants about his underhanded exploits, much to the annoyance of his captors. HilarityEnsues when Rastapopoulos, the mastermind behind Carreidas' capture, is accidentally injected with the serum in a struggle.

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** Part of the problem is that when one of the defendants realizes the charge against him, he incredulously repeats "I shot the [[strike:cashier]] clerk?" several times in an attempt to clarify.

* Pretty much every episode of ''{{Fraiser}}'' ever.

** Part of the problem is that when one of the defendants realizes the charge against him, he incredulously repeats "I shot the cashier?" several times in an attempt to clarify.

* Pretty much every episode of ''{{Fraiser}}'' ever.* The Colonel does one of these in the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp", [[spoiler:confessing to having been faking his need for a wheelchair for nearly ten years when the pointing finger of accusations seems to be on him. Agatha Christie then goes on to say "Actually, I was going to say you were completely innocent..."]]

* Played straight on the ''{{CSI}}''-''WithoutATrace'' crossover, in a bit of an IdiotPlot moment.

* ''ThirdRockFromTheSun'' had an episode where Dick confessed to [[MistakenForGay being gay]], but thought he was confessing to being an alien. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]].
** Happened the other way around in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Phases" - Xander thought Larry was confessing to being a werewolf, when in fact he was just coming out of the closet.

* Happens in a novel called ''TheFuturist''.
* In ''TheBrothersKaramazov'', Dmitri confesses "I killed him" to the constables there to arrest him for murdering his father when he thinks he murdered Grigory the butler. Happens all throughout the interrogation as well, when Dmitri says one thing and the cops interpret it against him.
* The Colonel does one of these in the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp", [[spoiler:confessing to having been faking his need for a wheelchair for nearly ten years when the pointing finger of accusations seems to be on him. Agatha Christie then goes on to say "Actually, I was going to say you were completely innocent..."]]
*In ''TheOffice'' accountant webisodes, the accountants asked Phillis if she had spent any company money on something, hoping to find the missing $3000, she admits to having bought something with a company card, but it was a heel for her shoe, only costing $14.

* ''{{The Wire}}'' features a drug dealer named Cheese being caught talking about killing "my dog" on the phone, and the cops listening in on it through their wiretap are stunned that he's freely discussing killing a friend. Turns out he really was talking about his dog, who he had to kill after it was injured in a dog fight, and the cops have just advertised that they have a wiretap up over this.
* The character Wade did this regularly in the U.S. Acres segment of ''[[GarfieldAndFriends Garfield and Friends]]''. In one episode the farm's cow had been stolen. Wade was questioned, and within minutes, he confessed to, among other things: wearing wax lips out of season, putting lettuce and tomato on a corn beef sandwich, eating all of a piece of bread but the crust, and phoning information for numbers he could have looked up himself. However, he didn't even mention the missing cow.
* Played for laughs in ''TheGoonies''. When the Fratellis catch Chunk and order him to tell everything under threat of shredding his arm in a blender, he proceeds to tell them every bad thing he's done in his life.
* In ''TheSimpsons'', Lisa tries to get Jessica Lovejoy to confess to stealing the church's collection money, so she stands in front of the congregation and asks that the criminal confess now. As she didn't specify which crime she was referring to, everyone in town starts owning up to random things. And when Jessica plays dumb through the entire thing, Lisa just says "Oh what the heck...IT WAS JESSICA LOVEJOY!"

* Pretty much every episode of ''{{Fraiser}}'' ever.