History Main / TakingTheHeat

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In the episode "Confessions, Confessions," after Peter accidentally breaks Carol's favorite vase with a basketball, all the other kids try to take the blame for it so Peter won't be grounded and miss his upcoming camping trip.

* ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'': In the climax of "Cramped Champions", Lou takes the blame for the flooding of Camp Champion so Barb doesn't get fired.

** In "Sleuth or Consequences", Lincoln gets ready to go to an Ace Savvy convention but is halted when Dad announces someone clogged the toilet last night. The clogger turns out to be Lucy attempting to flush a Princess Pony comic, but Lincoln decides to take the blame for it so she doesn't become a laughingstock, meaning he's grounded and cannot go to the convention, but Lucy makes it up to him by making him his own comic.

* Played for comic effect at the climax of the 1996 movie ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117104/ Mrs. Winterbourne]]'': the two main characters, both innocent of the murder that's been committed but thinking each other guilty, try to take the heat for each other. And then the two main supporting characters, despite having little or no idea what's going on, try just as insistently to take the heat themselves. It turns out [[spoiler: the police already have the (completely unrepentant) ''real'' murderer in custody, -- a bit character just barely glimpsed earlier in the movie -- and weren't looking for suspects at all.]]

In more "[[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]]" series, it may instead turn out that Alice did indeed do it, but Bob has some reason for feeling she should be spared punishment: Alice can't handle prison, Alice has less than a year to live, the [[AssholeVictim victim]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Alice and only Bob knows, Alice has a degenerative brain disorder and ''[[AmnesiacsAreInnocent doesn't know]]'' [[AmnesiacsAreInnocent she did it]]... and sometimes, Bob may actually think he's protecting an innocent Alice - all while she's pulling his strings to get him to take the heat for her.

* In ''Anime/TanteiOperaMilkyHolmes'', Cordelia lets herself go to jail for stealing bread rather than let Fish Paste, the girls' new pet cat, be thrown out since she believes the cat is the only thing holding her and her loved ones together. She is freed, [[TheOphelia but prison warps with her mind a bit.]]

* Hachiman from ''LightNovel/MyTeenRomanticComedySNAFU'' sees this as a solution whenever a social problem arises. He sees himself as unimportant and believes that social issues cannot be resolved unless all parties focus on a single enemy, which in this case, is Hachiman himself. It works the first time around, but his second attempt causes a rift between himself and Yukino and Yui, who feel disdain for his method of operation.

* In ''Fanfic/NewHopeUniversityMajorInMurder'', there are two possible culprits for the fifth murder- [[spoiler:Lucina Sorenson and Katy Thorson, both of whom are in a romantic relationship]]. Each of them tries to claim responsibility for the murder so that the other will live, but being a ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' fic, there's a catch- if the class chooses the wrong person, everyone besides the culprit will be executed. Naturally, at least one of the two is lying, so it's up to Saya to find out who is. [[spoiler:Katy is the liar. Saya manages to uncover the truth, resulting in Lucina (whom Saya had also loved) being executed, and everyone else surviving]].

* Played for comic effect at the climax of the 1996 movie ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117104/ Mrs. Winterbourne]]'': the two main characters, both innocent of the murder that's been committed but thinking each other guilty, try to take the heat for each other. And then the two main supporting characters, despite having little or no idea what's going on, try just as insistently to take the heat themselves. It turns out [[spoiler: the police already have the (completely unrepentant) ''real'' murderer in custody, -- a bit character just barely glimpsed earlier in the movie -- and weren't looking for suspects at all.]]
* In ''Film/ILoveYouToDeath'' (loosely based on a real attempted murder) Rosalie Boca makes several attempts to murder her husband Joey for cheating on her with other women, and is helped by her mother Nadja and her friend Devo, who's in love with her. When the cops finally do find out, the three try to cover for each other by saying the other two had nothing to do with it. Nadja claims her daughter begged her not to kill Joey, but she went on anyway, explaining, "I'm her mother, I do what I want."
* In ''Film/TheLastRemakeOfBeauGeste'' Digby Geste (Creator/MartyFeldman) pleads guilty to the theft of the priceless "Blue Water" sapphire in order to protect [[spoiler:his brother Beau, who has absconded to Morocco with the jewel in order to prevent their stepmother Flavia from glomming onto it]].

* In the ''Film/TheKingAndTheClown'' the king's jealous [[HotConsort consort]] frames Gong-gil, the king's new favourite, for defamation. Because Jaeng-sang's writing is identical to Gong-gil's (having learned by imitation) [[TheChampion he is able to step in]] and takes the fall for it. Not that this is any better a solution to [[PleaseSpareHimMyLiege Gong-gil]].
* Drives the plot of ''Film/ThingsChange'': the main character Jerry is a simple cobbler who is hired to take the heat for a mob murder in exchange for a payday when he gets out of prison. At the end [[spoiler:Jerry has made a new friend in the mob who has someone take the heat for ''Jerry'']].

* In ''Film/WildTales'', to ensure the waitress won't get blamed for the attempt to poison Cuenca (as well as both to save her friend from being assaulted by him and because she obviously wished to do the bastard in), the cook stabs him to death with a kitchen knife and gets arrested by the police, giving the waitress a knowing wink as she's taken away.
* ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017''. For those in the audience who don't know ItWasHisSled, there's a scene when a suspect confesses to the crime, then tries to murder Poirot. [[spoiler:It looks like he's covering for the woman he's in love with, whom Poirot has just accused, but it turns out EverybodyDidIt and he's just making himself the fall guy, knowing that Poirot won't give up until he has a culprit.]]
* ''Film/{{Thoroughbreds}}'' ends with [[spoiler:Amanda allowing Lily to murder her stepfather, and pin the blame on her. Since Amanda has a history of violence and a disorder that makes her [[EmotionlessGirl unable to feel emotion]], everyone buys it.]]

* ''Film/{{Bullet}}'': Bullet has spent eight years in prison for a robbery really committed by his friend Pady, who feels bad about this and tries to help him out as a result.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/GalleySlave": After the court case is resolved, Dr Calvin explains to Professor Ninheimer that, due to the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws]], Easy would've taken the blame itself in order to protect Professor Ninheimer, but the robot-hater had expected it to act like a human instead of like a robot.
* In Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TurnCoat'', [[spoiler:Morgan]] takes the rap for [[spoiler:Luccio]] for the murder of a senior member of the wizards' White Council, since [[spoiler:he's in love with her and she was mind-controlled into performing the murder]].
* Used in Creator/MargeryAllingham's Literature/AlbertCampion novel ''Death of a Ghost'' [[spoiler:with the twist that the person making the false confession IS the actual murder, he just describes the murder in such a way as to throw suspicion off himself and make it look like he's covering up for someone else]].

* In Creator/MarioPuzo's original novel ''Literature/TheGodfather'', Felix Bocchicchio [[FallGuy takes the fall]] for [[spoiler: Michael's]] murders of [[TheHeavy "The Turk"]] and his [[DirtyCop pet NYPD Captain]]. Since Mr. Bocchicchio is already on DeathRow for [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge three premeditated]] and [[AssholeVictim pretty much deserved]] murders, he's more than happy to admit guilt as long as Don Corleone provides financially for his soon-to-be widow and their three kids. (The movie omits this, leaving it wide open as to ''how'' the Don gets [[spoiler: Michael]] off the hook.)
* Creator/JamesThurber's "Literature/TheMacbethMurderMystery": The version where two people in love each try to take the heat for the other is parodied, by having the protagonist cite it to explain why, if Macbeth didn't do it (and of course he's such an obvious suspect he ''must'' be a red herring), he and his wife both spend the rest of the play acting as if they were guilty.
* In ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', Lissa made Wade Voda use a baseball bat to trash his own room. When he came to his senses he blamed Rose and she willingly took the heat to protect Lissa.
* In ''Literature/TheWestingGame'', [[spoiler:Turtle]] takes the heat for the bombs [[spoiler:her sister Angela]] set, going so far as to set a bomb of her own.

* ''Literature/MyDarkVanessa'': [[spoiler:When word of Strane and Vanessa's [[TeacherStudentRomance relationship]] reaches the higher-ups, Vanessa protects Strane by saying she started the rumors for attention. As a result, she has to apologize for "lying" to a roomful of kids and then is kicked out of school, while Strane suffers no consequences.]]
* ''Literature/EveryShinyThing'': [[spoiler:After foster kid Sierra is caught with stolen goods, she takes all the blame, even though her rich friend Lauren actually stole them, because Sierra will be leaving as soon as her mom is back on her feet while Lauren will be stuck here for the rest of her childhood. Although the truth comes out soon enough.]]

* Occasionally seen on ''Series/LawAndOrder''.
** Sometimes in modified form, where people confess on the stand to create reasonable doubt for the current defendant but have no intention of ever actually being prosecuted themselves.
** In another episode, a crime boss willingly accepted the sentence for the murder of his unfaithful mistress without admitting guilt to the crime. On the way to prison, he sarcastically congratulated Jack for getting him for "the one I didn't do". The main characters later figure out, after it's too late to do anything about it, that the boss' ''son'' killed the mistress for betraying his father. The boss sacrificed himself to save his son.
** In another episode, a man is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife's lesbian mistress (a controversial writer). He steadfastly argues his innocence until the evidence becomes overwhelming... at which point he confesses and the prosecutors drop all charges. Because the evidence now proves that his ''daughter'' did it.
* In an [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]] episode, a woman confesses to murdering her husband's mistress. However, a brain tumor has left her to weak to even pick up a glass, much less the heavy sculpture used to bludgeon the woman. The cops think she's covering for her husband, but when his alibi is proven solid, they realize she's covering for her ''daughter''. They try to dissuade her, but as she's dying, she insists on taking the blame.
* Subverted in one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': a woman confesses to killing her husband, but gets the details wrong. The detectives figure she's taking the heat for her lover. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that she ''did'' kill her husband, and deliberately made a mistake in her confession to make it look like she was covering for someone in order to create reasonable doubt.]]
* ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'': "Rumpole and the Sporting Life", where the defendant was found standing over the victim's body and immediately said "''I'' did it."
* ''Series/FoylesWar'' has done several variations.
* The miniseries ''Series/{{Blackpool}}'' did a beautifully-executed subversion: After one of the detectives makes it clear that he has it in for the main suspect, the suspect's son confesses to the murder. Everyone immediately realises that he's Taking The Heat for his father, and he's let off with a warning about wasting police time. [[spoiler:And then it eventually turns out that he ''did'' do it, albeit in self-defence.]]
* In the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' episode, "Blackmail", Duncan confessed to a murder his friend was wrongly accused of, as he could survive the punishment of being hanged.
* A union leader in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' tried to cover up a fatal industrial accident at his mill to keep it from being shut down (and his members losing their jobs) by confessing to having murdered the accident victim.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' ended with a friend of the murderer confessing to the crime; because of a brain tumor (that was going to cause her death in an estimated six months) the murderer didn't remember that she committed the crime. As he's being taken away, Columbo, who knows the truth, gently points out that the evidence will eventually show he didn't do it. The confessor agrees but figures it would probably take about six months or so for that to happen.
* In the ''Series/KeenEddie'' episode "Black Like Me", the character Georgie turns himself in and confesses to a jewel heist. Eddie refuses to believe that Georgie is a criminal and figures out that the girl Georgie loves asked him to take the fall, so she and her real boyfriend, a murderous crook, can get away with it.
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Temperance Brennan gets the defense to portray her as someone with the motive and opportunity to kill the victim (albeit justifiably) to provide reasonable doubt for a jury during her father's trial.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':
** When the mother of a 2-kid family was being taken in for questioning about the disappearance and possible murder of the other 3, [[spoiler: they find the dad and bring him in, he calls out that he killed the son to take the heat off the daughter, and the mom hears and shoots him. The daughter got off rather light. ]]
** In another episode, a person of interest confesses to the murder, but is tripped up when Beckett asks him about some details of the case that he gets completely wrong. He was doing it to protect his girlfriend who was being framed.
** In "Like Father Like Daughter", Alexis tries to prove that Frank Henson, a man convicted of murder 15 years ago and scheduled to be executed in three days, is innocent of the crime. She and Castle ultimately discover that Frank had confessed to the crime to protect his brother John, whom he saw standing over the body. Alexis and her father prove that both Frank and John were innocent, and Frank is exonerated.

* In ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Tracy Jordan makes his first "serious" [[ShowWithinAShow movie]] ''Hard To Watch'', which ends with his character volunteering to confess to a crime his brother committed.

** When the Stanfield gang is arrested at the end of season 5, their main assassin Chris Partlow, as part of a plea deal cut by Rhonda Pearlman, pleads guilty to all murders committed by the crew so long as his family is taken care of, similar to Wee-Bey.
* In the BackStory of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', Mr. Bates took the heat for [[spoiler: his wife Vera's]] theft. [[spoiler: She's an utterly ungrateful bitch who then sets out to ruin him when he won't take her back as his wife.]]
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'':
** Multiple subversion of some sort in the episode "Belly Speaker". Slightly unbalanced [[{{Ventriloquism}} ventriloquist]] Harcourt, who [[ConsultingMisterPuppet does most of his talking through his dummy, Mycroft]], confesses to the murder of his father, but Murdoch finds inconsistent evidence, helped by Mycroft's stream-of-consciousness babble. [[spoiler:He eventually realises the murderer was the ''real'' Mycroft, Harcourt's long lost twin brother, and Harcourt is taking the heat. But shortly after releasing "Harcourt", he realises that ''this'' was Mycroft, who killed Harcourt and took his place at the age of ''ten'', and who confessed to throw suspicion off ''himself'']]. Got all that?
** Straight example in the episode "Kung Fu Crabtree". Crabtree is convinced that Wu Chang, who came to Toronto looking for his sister, is innocent of murdering a Chinese diplomat. Unfortunately, the case keeps getting stacked against him. In the final interview, Crabtree has a EurekaMoment [[spoiler: that the sister was perfectly positioned to commit the murder. Wu Chang has a moment of disbelief, then looks at his sister's expression and immediately confesses. To Crabtree's frustration, there doesn't seem to be anything he can do about this, especially as being hanged in Toronto is better for Wu Chang than the death awaiting him in China.]]
** In "Master Lovecraft" [[spoiler: the morbidly romantic Ellen Woods and Ian Blaird make a suicide pact, but Ian's life is saved by their friend Clinton Hartley. When the police close in on Ian for Ellen's murder, Clinton - who is ''also'' in love with Ian - kills to protect him and takes the heat for both murders.]]
** In "Brother's Keeper", Detective Watts confesses to killing a man in self-defence, but Murdoch doesn't think things add up. [[spoiler: As he learns more of Watts's connections to the victim, a sadistic gang leader who tortured and killed Watts's adoptive brother and was released because Watts himself was guilty of evidence tampering, he starts to suspect the murder was premeditated, before realising Watts is protecting the ''other'' brother. And he didn't do it either; he was going to but couldn't go through with it, and was murdered himself in the same way as his brother. The guy was killed by his own father, who witnessed this and finally realised the accusations were true, then Watts found the body and jumped to conclusions.]]
* On ''Series/OneLifeToLive'', a man tries to take the attempted murder rap for his girlfriend. Aside from getting crucial details of the crime wrong, rather than being grateful, his girlfriend is actually quite ticked off that he even ''thought'' she was guilty.
* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'':
** A woman tries to take the murder rap for her son, but it doesn't work because she gets details of the crime wrong.
** In another episode, a man with an established motive confesses to murdering the victim to protect his sister (who had killed the victim unintentionally and in self-defense).
** In yet another, both a mother and daughter confessed to the same murder, leading to the question of who really did it and who's lying to protect the other. [[spoiler: Both were attempting to protect the other: each incorrectly believed the other to have committed the murder when the real culprit was a friend of the mother]].

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'',
** In "Caged", an inmate in a women's prison murders a prison guard [[MamaBear because he had raped her oldest daughter]]. A fellow inmate and SerialKiller who was in for life decides to take the blame to protect her because she only had one year left of her sentence and a family to come home to when it was over.
** In "Family Ties", Vance's daughter Kayla gets arrested for shoplifting a purse. In reality, one of her friends committed the crime, but Kayla covered for her because the friend in question has gotten into trouble with the law before and another offense would have ruined her chances of getting into college, especially since she had recently turned eighteen. Kayla, on the other hand, is still underaged, has early acceptance into Georgetown University, and has an otherwise clean record, meaning she only gets legally punished with having to do 30 hours of community service and the "theft" won't go on her permanent record.
* In the ''Series/EnemyAtTheDoor'' episode "Escape", a farmer is arrested by the German authorities after being caught trying to hide the body of a German soldier (who had repeatedly stolen things from the farm, leading to a violent confrontation). Another character, who is about to make a break for England, offers to leave behind a letter confessing to the murder since he's determined to make it or die trying so either way the Germans won't be able to do anything to him. At the end of the episode, the German commander receives the letter and immediately recognizes it for what it is, but seems to be considering accepting it at face value so the situation may be smoothed over; the episode ends without revealing his decision.
* Elizabeth from ''Father Brown'' did this to protect her husband ([[spoiler:who wasn't the murderer anyway]].)
* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' deals with a vigilante, who at one point inspires a copycat to commit a similar murder and try to take credit for the previous murders. Gideon is onto him straight away and bluffs him by referring to the latest victim, a pedophile priest, having been dealt a GroinAttack, when in fact the real killer didn't kill him that way. The copycat replies "it's what he deserved".
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', there was a major storyline midway through the run where Worf and his family were discommendated from the Klingon Empire when it seems that his father was a traitor that allowed the Khitomer Massacre. [[spoiler:The real mastermind was the head of the House of Duras during that time period and Worf was forced to take it because if the truth came out, it would split the Klingon Empire in half.]] This storyline lasted until the Klingon Civil War.
* ''{{Series/Kaamelott}}'': One episode has a tribe raid Kaamelott, dealing minor damage. Bohort was in charge of security that evening and is thoroughly interrogated by Arthur, constantly repeating that nobody was hurt. Eventually, he declares that there was a communication mishap and that he would accept responsibility. Arthur is floored... until the idea of ''[[LovableCoward Bohort]]'' taking responsibility for anything is confronted with reality. Finally, the truth comes out: the raiders were able to make it unimpeded because the town guard was off playing dice with Karadoc and Perceval, and had been doing so for several weeks.
* Much more prominent in the ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' episode ''Sad Cypress'' than in the [[Literature/SadCypress book it’s based on]]. Dr. Lord does everything in his power to acquit Elinor Carlisle ([[LoveMakesYouCrazy even should she be guilty]], [[spoiler:which she wasn’t]]). Everything – including throwing a lot of suspicion on himself.
* Subverted in ''Series/{{Westworld}}''. In "Trompe L Oeil", the Delos board tries to make out that Ford's modifications to the androids make them capable of harming humans. Head of Programming Bernard Lowe is fired for this, with the implication that he can save his job if he fingers Ford instead. He refuses, apparently out of disdain for the Board and loyalty to Ford. [[spoiler:But the end of the episode reveals that Bernard is actually an android under Ford's complete control.]]
* In the ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' episode "Whatever Remains, However Improbable", Joan is accused of killing a serial killer who was obsessed with Sherlock. Sherlock finds the real killer, but when Joan learns [[spoiler: it was Captain Gregson's daughter, whose roommate had been one of the victims, and Gregson was involved in the coverup]], she doesn't want it to go any further, reckoning that, since she ''didn't'' kill him, she isn't really at risk, but being prepared to take a certain amount of heat. Sherlock, seeing how determined the FBI agent on the case is to convict Joan, isn't convinced [[spoiler: so ''he'' confesses to the murder. The FBI agent still thinks Joan did it, but there's not much she can do about it since he not only has the murder weapon but [=MI6=] claim he was working under their orders and should be extradited rather than stand trial.]]
* In the ''Series/{{Decoy}}'' episode "The Lost Ones," a young man shoots his abusive father. His younger sister confesses to the murder since for her it would only mean a few more years in the reformatory, while for him it would mean the end of his dreams of being a surgeon.
* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily'': In "Trial of the Partridge One," Laurie is caught with a copy of an upcoming math test that her friend Cindy Brown stole. She maintains her innocence, but won't tell who actually did it because Cindy's dad is the principal and the consequences of failure will be much worse for her than they will be for Laurie.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheWonderYears'' Kevin throws what is originally supposed to be a mild party with his friends while his parents are out of town, [[WildTeenParty but it quickly grows out of hand when people he's never even seen before start to show up]]. The next day, the house is so trashed, there's no way he's able to clean it up before his parents get home. He's about to come clean when his parents see the mess, but they immediately reprimand his older and less mature brother, Wayne, believing this was his fault, and much to his surprise Wayne just says, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Kevin concludes that maybe Wayne knew their parents would be harder on Kevin if they knew he did, or maybe he saw a little bit of himself in Kevin, but either way, Kevin ended up waxing Wayne's car as a way to say thank you.
* ''Series/{{Brookside}}'': Sinbad attempts to protect Mandy and Beth by claiming that he killed Trevor Jordache. It doesn't work because he doesn't know whereabouts on his body Trevor was stabbed and wrongly guesses at the chest.
* ''Series/Loki2021'': One of the biggest signs [[NeverMyFault Loki]] has really changed and fallen in love is when he attempts to take blame from Sylvie and put it on himself by lying that he was the mastermind behind "the plan", and Sylvie is nothing but a meager pawn. Mobius sees through it.

* ''EdnaAndHarvey'': Edna's berserk button was pushed WAY too many times, so she [[spoiler:killed her "perfectly conditioned" (read: obnoxious and haughty, possibly insane) boyfriend.]] Her father pinned himself as the murderer and was executed.

** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', during the climax of the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya tries to cover for Godot, who killed Maya's mother Misty, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, [[OverlyLongGag who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really]]--well, it's pretty confusing. Maya does this because she knew that Godot was trying to save her from being murdered by killing Misty (ItMakesSenseInContext) but after Phoenix exposes him as the killer, Godot admits that he's not sure if his intention that night was really to help Maya or to just get revenge on Dahlia Hawthorne for putting him in a coma years ago.]]

** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', [[spoiler: Simon Blackquill took the heat for Athena Cykes and framed himself for her mother Metis's murder. Athena truly ''was'' innocent, though [[BloodSplatteredInnocents the circumstances of the murder were such]] that she would have been convicted of it, and for worse back then ''she was just 11 years old''. He got himself convicted and spent seven years in prison for her - and by the time Athena finally managed to fill her goal to clear his name, he is ''a day away from execution.'']] And in one of the {{Bad Ending}}s, [[spoiler: Simon ''does'' get executed, [[FromBadToWorse then]] the HostageSituation staged by his older sister Aura concludes with her and ''all'' the hostages (including Trucy) [[DownerEnding disappearing forever, Athena leaving the office, Apollo never smiling again out of trauma, and Phoenix giving up on being a lawyer forever]]]].

* During his academy days Optimus of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' reluctantly followed two of his fellow cadets on an unsanctioned excursion for easy energon on an organic planet. While there, one cadet was lost and presumed dead. Optimus took full responsibility for the incident and was expelled from academy and ultimately wound up becoming a lowly space bridge repairman.

** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', during the climax of the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya tries to cover up for Godot, who killed Maya's mother Misty, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, [[OverlyLongGag who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really]]--well, it's pretty confusing. Maya does this because she knew that Godot was trying to save her from being murdered by killing Misty (ItMakesSenseInContext) but after Phoenix exposes him as the killer, Godot admits that he's not totally sure if his intention that night was really to help Maya or to just get revenge on Dahlia Hawthorne for putting him in a coma years ago.]]
** More straightforwardly, case 5 of the first game has the client, Lana Skye, trying to take the heat for [[spoiler:her former boss, Damon Gant, as he's blackmailing her with (faked) evidence that her little sister Ema committed manslaughter]]. Although it's downplayed since [[spoiler:having been an accessory to the murder, she's not ''entirely'' innocent herself. Just ''not'' the murderer,]].

** One short story has a nobleman murdered, with the dead man's wife and valet accusing themselves of the murder to protect the other... [[MurderTheHypotenuse They were both in on it.]]
** In ''Literature/FiveLittlePigs'', Caroline Crale allowed herself to be sentenced for the murder of her husband to protect [[spoiler:her sister Angela]], whom she believes to be the culprit, and saw this as an opportunity to redeem herself [[spoiler:for disfiguring Angela when they were younger]].
** In the ''Literature/MissMarple'' novel, ''Literature/TheMurderAtTheVicarage'', both Lawrence Redding and his lover Anne Protheroe confess to killing Anne's husband, Colonel Protheroe. When the police began to doubt their story, they admit that they confessed the crime to protect the other. [[spoiler:Both committed the crime]].
** In ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' both [[spoiler:Jack Renaud and Bella Duveen]] ran into each other in the crime scene and immediately assumes that the other is guilty of the murder. When [[spoiler:Jack]] was arrested for the crime, he denies committing the murder but refuses to disclose what happened during the time of the murder to prevent any suspicion from falling towards [[spoiler:Bella]]. Just before he could put on trial, [[spoiler:Bella herself arrives to confess the crime]].
** In ''Literature/TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles'', the suspicious behaviour of [[spoiler:Lawrence]] can be attributed to the fact that he believes [[spoiler:his crush, Cynthia Murdoch,]] to be guilty of the crime and tries his best to hide evidence against her. This comes as a nuisance to the real murderer, who wanted to pin the blame on someone else.

* In the Literature/LordPeterWimsey novel ''Clouds of Witness'', a man is found shot dead outside the Wimsey family's holiday home. Lord Peter's sister Mary, who acted strangely on the night, confesses to the murder, but it's soon established that doesn't know enough to have done it. She then confesses that she was planning to elope on the same night, and believes her fiancé argued with and killed the deceased. It turns out he didn't, but only came across the fresh body and immediately fled to avoid being accused, leaving her to face the music.

* In Creator/DorothyLSayers's Literature/LordPeterWimsey novel ''Nine Tailors'', two brothers both try to cover for each other. The police throw them into the same room and eavesdrop. When they both realize that the other didn't do it, they both cooperate.

May overlap with the FallGuy or FalseConfession. Compare to SilentScapegoat and TheScapegoat. Contrast IWontSayImGuilty and ThenLetMeBeEvil.

* Attempted by [[spoiler: Aya Misaki]] in the anime version of ''Manga/DearBrother''. [[spoiler: Manipulated by two elder Sorority girls, Aya's GirlPosse Megumi and Miyuki steal and almost burn the signature books requesting for the dissolution of the Sorority. Aya takes the blame for her friends when they're confronted, saying that ''she'' ordered for the books to be destroyed; but after she leaves the school, the girls reveal what truly happened to Kaoru, Junko, Nanako, and Tomoko.]]
* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':

** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', during the climax of the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya tries to cover up for Godot, who killed Maya's mother Misty, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, [[OverlyLongGag who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really]]--well, it's pretty confusing. Maya did this because she knew that Godot was trying to save Maya from being murdered, but after Phoenix exposes him as the killer, Godot admits that he's not totally sure if his intention that night was really to help Maya or to just get revenge on Dahlia Hawthorne for putting him in a coma years ago.]]

** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', during the climax of the final case of the third game, [[spoiler: Maya tries to cover up for Godot, who killed Maya's mother Misty, who was channeling the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne at the time, [[OverlyLongGag who thought she was being channeled by Pearl Fey, who was really]]...]] It's kind of confusing. Maya did this because she knew that Godot was trying to save Maya from being murdered, but after Phoenix exposes him as the killer, Godot admits that he's not totally sure if his intention that night was really to help Maya or to just get revenge on Dahlia Hawthorne for putting him in a coma years ago.]]