History Main / MistakenForMurderer

* In ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', [[HuskyRusskie Argo Gulski]] has Canada's Gundam Fighter [[CrusadingWidower Andrew Graham]] trying to kill him because [[YouKilledMyFather he thinks Argo killed his wife Norma]] back during his SpacePirate days. In reality, Argo ([[ThouShaltNotKill who had never taken a life even in his darkest days]]) was trying to ''save'' Norma from [[ExplosiveDecompression getting sucked through a hull breach]] but couldn't get to her in time, and from where Andrew was standing at the time he couldn't see what was really happening.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': The Dethklok song "Bloodtrocuted" tells the story of an electrician who is MistakenForMurderer by the bounty hunters chasing him, because he happens to look like the man that they're after. Of course, it's [[EverybodyDies Dethklok]], so [[spoiler:he ends up killing the bounty hunters in an electrified puddle of his own blood in order to save himself, [[BittersweetEnding then bleeds to death]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard from the cuts he gave himself]] [[DeathByIrony in order to pull the stunt off]].]]

* Gowther's backstory in ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'' incorporates this, as [[spoiler:he was accused of raping and murdering Nadja Liones, the then-Princess of her kingdom.]] The truth of the matter is [[spoiler:that [[IllGirl Nadja was suffering from an ailment of the heart]], and would likely die soon, so she chose to spend the night with Gowther, with whom she'd developed romantic feelings for. This would lead to TheirFirstTime, but [[OutWithABang tragically after making love, Nadja's heart gave out]]. A panicked Gowther tried to transplant his Magic Heart into her to save her life, tearing open her chest to replace her weak heart. When some royal guards walked in and saw the naked doll standing over Nadja's unclothed and bloodied body, [[NotWhatItLooksLike the failed attempt at a meatball surgery led the guards to assume the worst]], [[PleaseWakeUp despite Gowther's devastated pleas for Nadja to wake up]]. No one found out the truth behind Nadja's death, but Bartra, who was a young prince at the time, was the only one to believe that Gowther would never harm Nadja like that, having been aware of their growing relationship.]]

** [[spoiler:Satoko]] believes that [[spoiler:Keiichi]] murdered [[spoiler:Rika]] in the climax of ''Tatarigoroshi-hen'', after [[spoiler:Keiichi]], while [[spoiler:Satoko]] is absent, finds [[spoiler:Rika's]] body, drops the hatchet he's carrying into her blood in shock, and then ''[[WhatAnIdiot picks the hatchet back up]]''... at which point [[spoiler:Satoko]] returns.

* Gowther's backstory in ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'' incorporates this, as he was accused of raping and murdering Nadja Liones, the then-Princess of her kingdom. The truth of the matter is that [[IllGirl Nadja was suffering from an ailment of the heart]], and would likely die soon, so she chose to spend the night with Gowther, with whom she'd developed romantic feelings for. This would lead to TheirFirstTime, but [[OutWithABang tragically after making love, Nadja's heart gave out]]. A panicked Gowther tried to transplant his Magic Heart into her to save her life, tearing open her chest to replace her weak heart. When some royal guards walked in and saw the naked doll standing over Nadja's unclothed and bloodied body, [[NotWhatItLooksLike the failed attempt at a meatball surgery led the guards to assume the worst]], [[PleaseWakeUp despite Gowther's devastated pleas for Nadja to wake up]]. No one found out the truth behind Nadja's death, but Bartra, who was a young prince at the time, was the only one to believe that Gowther would never harm Nadja like that, having been aware of their growing relationship.

* In ''[[Pinball/WHODunnit WHO dunnit]]'', Tex thinks his wife Victoria tried to kill him by sabotaging the brakes on his car. [[spoiler:In reality, it was her butler who did it, after he overheard Tex threatening her.]]

* Though they are not major characters, Kogoro Mouri of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' frequently accuses the wrong people of the murders that happen. To be fair, he isn't the only one: many cases feature clearing someone's name before they're formally accused of stuff they didn't do.
** In one instance, Andre Camel, an FBI agent that worked with Conan in the previous arc, is taken in as a suspect for a hotel murder when the police find him jogging up and down the stairs (he was exercising). When everyone suspects he's the murderer due to [[NotHelpingYourCase him being bad at talking his way out of it]] (for example, they ask him what his job is, which he stutters over because he's not allowed to tell them he's an FBI agent), being a foreigner, and having the FaceOfAThug, Conan has to call in Jodie to explain.

* A variant occurs in an episode of the anime miniseries ''[[Manga/RumikoTakahashiAnthology Rumic Theater]]'', "Abberant Family F", where a girl is convinced the rest of her family plans to kill her and then commit group suicide during a family vacation.

* This happens to Jun in ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}''. Everyone thinks [[JerkAss Jun]] pushed [[spoiler:Waku]] off the mecha into the sea but the truth is [[spoiler:the kids die after they pilot the mecha. Waku just happened to die right when Jun playfully pushed him. He would have fallen anyway]].
* The series ''Anime/{{K}}'' begins with an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent finding out that there's a video that shows him murdering someone, and the other members of the victim's gang are out for revenge - but he doesn't remember doing it, and he's sure he's innocent. He and his companions work to solve the mystery over the first season. The truth is [[spoiler: it was his body, but he was [[BodySnatcher body-swapped]].]]

* In ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'', Alita notices that Ido goes out at night and turns up in the morning with inexplicable injuries, all while a series of unsolved cyborg murders take place. Believing that he's the killer, she follows him and -- upon seeing him attack a seemingly harmless woman -- directly confronts him. Little does she know that the supposedly innocent woman in question is actually a rogue mutant, as well as the ''actual'' murderer...

[[quoteright:280:[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fluttershymistaken.png]]]]

* In "Lesson Zero" episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Twilight Sparkle accidentally sees Fluttershy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2yi-1zgdZc#t=3m42s giving a bear a therapeutic massage]], only from her perspective it looks like she was beating the crap out of him and ''[[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence snapping his neck]]''. It doesn't help that another episode implied that bears in this world are [[FurryConfusion more or less]] sentient species.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' episode "Future Shock," Tuck peeks into the future via a {{Chronoscope}} and sees what appears to be Jenny [[EvilLaugh laughing maniacally]] with blood on her hands in front of Brad's head, severed from the rest of his body. [[spoiler: It turns out that when Tuck tried to fight Jenny out of his paranoia, he ended up squirting [[ABloodyMess ketchup]] on her hands, and in the commotion, Brad ended up landing in a hole with the rest of his body intact. The other body turned out to be Brad's dummy which he brought along to a drive-in theater as a "date." Jenny was only laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.]]

* In the Victorian London level in ''VideoGame/WaxWorks'', the protagonist is mistaken for UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper after being seen next to a dead harlot. The fact that the body he's using is that of Jack's twin brother doesn't help him much.

* In the ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' faniction [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7333172/1/ Paranoia]] [[{{Tsundere}} South Italy]] ends up panicking and imagining that [[LoveFreak America]] has been plotting to kill him.

* In ''Anime/MaiHime'', when Sister Yukariko is first revealed as a [=HiME=], she is standing over an injured [[ThoseTwoGuys Aoi]] with a bow-like Element. A flashback at the start of the next episode reveals that an Orphan attacked Aoi, and Yukariko tried to fight it off, but most people mistake her for Aoi's attacker, and Haruka has her interrogated.