Times where a criminal gets Off on a Technicality in Fan Works.
Danganronpa
- A New Hope: In Final Horizon, one of the culprits gets off this way when Monokuma rules that the victim didn't die directly at their hands, but instead due to the monster they'd summoned.
- Some Harry Potter fanfics feature Bartemius Crouch Senior justifying his refusal to allow Sirius Black a trial by claiming he fears Sirius would use some technicality to get away.
- In Growing Up Black, years after Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban, some of his relatives started having doubts about his guilt, decided to check the facts and found out he wasn't allowed to have a trial. They got him free by invoking a law stating that no pureblood can be forced to spend more than one month in Azkaban without a trial and that all charges against purebloods who are forced to stay more than that time there must be dropped. Sure, he's innocent, but since this is not what got him off, it can arguably be counted as a technicality.
- Actually, while the law invoked to get him free was supposed to work regardless of Sirius being guilty or not, the relative who brought the case to the Wizengamot did point out reasons to doubt his guilt before invoking the law. However, people who don't believe Sirius Black's innocence usually say he got Off On A Technicality. It doesn't help that his family had to pull some strings just to have a chance to plead Sirius' case.
- Harry Potter And The Overworked Headmaster: Crouch uses his fear of this to justify his refusal to give Sirius a trial; he's convinced that the Blacks would find some way to get the charges dismissed or dropped.
- Hermione Granger and the Marriage Law Revolution: The prologue revolves around the trial of a low-ranking member of the Ministry of Magic. He manages to get away with his crimes due to the Wizengamot's poor conduct; this serves as an example of the general lack of accountability that led to a revolution against the Ministry in the first place.
- In My Parents' Secret Keeper, Sirius Black did get a trial and was acquitted but, since the Wizarding World believed him to be guilty, he wasn't allowed to take Harry away from the Dursleys. In that fic, the Fidelius Charm leaves a magical trace on the Secret-Keeper and Sirius Black had no sign of that trace, which got him acquitted on the charge of being the one who betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, despite everyone being sure the only reason he had no sign was that, with James and Lily dead, the trace had vanished. And Sirius couldn't prove his innocence on the mass murder charge because there were no witnesses (the wizarding world believed the lack of witnesses to be the reason he wasn't convicted). Years later, after Harry's second year at Hogwarts, Sirius found a law that allowed him to take custody of Harry. Unfortunately, Harry was so convinced of Sirius Black's guilt he refused to listen to his Godfather's pleas of innocence until Peter Pettigrew showed up and almost killed Harry in an attempt to get Sirius finally convicted of something. Peter wouldn't feel safe living as somebody's pet rat with Sirius free to look for him.
- Raised by a Death Eater?: Unlike canon, Sirius was actually put on trial and managed to get himself acquitted of all charges, even winning custody of Harry. However, he remains Convicted by Public Opinion, with practically everyone at Hogwarts convinced that he was responsible for their murders.
- In Chapter 203 of Son of Harry Does Different, Severus Snape gets away with telling Voldemort about the prophecy regarding the Potters because Dumbledore pulled strings. In retaliation, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom kill Snape with the Killing Curse. During the trial, it was argued that only the one whose curse first hit Snape killed him and the other just hit a corpse and the witnesses couldn't tell which defendant killed Snape. As a result, the both of them were acquitted.
- In These Grim Bones, portraying Sirius Black as a Death Eater who got Off On A Technicality, Cornelius Fudge, wanting to conceal the fact that (in the fic) some of the Muggles allegedly killed by the explosion actually fell victims to blunders from Obliviators, convinced most of the Wizengamot members to pass a motion to have Sirius only answer questions regarding his guilt or innocence of the crimes he's been charged with. Fudge's official excuse was that, even under Veritaserum, Sirius could twist the truth to the point of getting himself acquitted if he ever got a chance to give elaborate answers. After Sirius claimed under Veritaserum that he didn't betray the Potters to Voldemort, didn't kill the Muggles and didn't kill Peter Pettigrew, Albus Dumbledore accused Sirius of being able to overcome Veritaserum and tried to have him convicted on the remaining evidence, but failed, because it was Dumbledore himself who said Veritaserum would be needed to settle any doubts. That and the fact the Wizengamot wouldn't go back on the ruling of having Sirius answer only the basic questions got him acquitted but still believed to be guilty.
- In but you gotta get up at least once more, Izuku possesses superhuman strength that doesn't come from a Quirk, instead being due to him following an insane training regimen. As a result, he can intervene against criminals without being busted for 'illegal Quirk usage'.
- New Game Plus (Ultra!): Despite sending a criminal to the hospital while illegally carrying a knife, Izuku manages to avoid being arrested for vigilantism since he doesn't have a Quirk.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- All That Glimmers Is Not Good: Sweetie Belle ends up failing her kinesthetics exam when the doorway to the button she needs to hit to finish opens just after the timer finishes counting down.
- Escape from the Moon: In The Mare from the Moon, Spliced calls out the blatantly rigged Kangaroo Court after the three judges presiding over it interrupt the Defense's opening statement. Her impassioned rant causes them to realize that they might be running the risk of her getting off on a technicality due to their open biases, causing them to shift towards attempting a more legitimate trial.
- Finding A Reason
: While convincing a victim of domestic abuse that they should testify against their abuser, Tony speaks honestly to them, revealing several of his own secrets to convince them to open up. Abby and McGee reveal the footage to their coworkers, spurring Tony to transfer out of NCIS; when Abby tracks him down and confronts him, Tony rips her a new one not just for blatantly disrespecting his privacy, but for endangering the whole investigation and the lives of the victims:Abby: You have a lot of explaining to do Mister!
Tony: So do you, Abigail Scuito! How dare you take footage from an interview with a victim - not a suspect; a victim - in an ongoing case and air it in the middle of the bullpen for everyone from the mailboy to the janitor to see! We'll be lucky not to get the case thrown out of court because your and McGee's negligence! Do you want Ethan Michaels to go free on a technicality, back home so he can beat up his husband and son again? Maybe put them on Ducky's table next time?
Abby: (recoils, having clearly failed to consider that)
Tony: Second of all, Petty Officer Michaels is an innocent victim who deserved our sympathy and respect, and you aired his private heartbreak to the whole building! You showed a blatant disregard for his privacy, and disrespected all of NCIS in your treatment of him! We'll be lucky if he doesn't sue us - or worse, recant the statement he made against his husband, which I worked damned hard to convince him to give! If he did that, we wouldn't need to wait for the judge to grant a mistrial Is that what you wanted, Ms. Scuito?
- Don't Say Goodbye, Farewell offers a Reconstruction. Colonel Janice O'Neill Qua is wanted for treason for defecting to the Moab Confederacy after being subjected to a blatantly biased "investigation" that flagrantly violated many of her civil rights, including a right to legal representation and habeas corpus. What's more, it's argued that legall, the Moab Confederacy is not at war with the Federation, as they have the right to secede and have not taken any military action against them. This allows Eleya to successfully argue that she can't be held criminally liable for refusing to arrest Janice, as holding her would have been outright illegal.
- Streets of Rage Saga: This is what gives Cygnus Threshold a Bittersweet Ending; while Axel successfully avenges the death of his parents, the Syndicate ensures that Lucius Hawk gets to walk out of the courtroom a free man.
