I can't remember if I've asked this here before or not, but on the show Soap, Peter Campbell was murdered by Chester Tate, which ended up being the result of a brain tumor (which, I think, also caused him to forget that he was the murderer until later), and it was said that he was no longer held responsible because the murder was beyond his control, and therefore was allowed to be released from prison, charges dropped. But could this really happen in real life, under those circumstances? He was just let out of jail, as opposed to being locked up in a mental institution? Of course he was given surgery to remove the tumor, which might have been why he could just go on like nothing happened afterwards.
I've also read multiple things online that say that Chuck was originally going to be the one who killed Peter, and would have stayed in jail, but audience reaction to Chuck and Bob were so good that they decided not to have them be sent to jail. I haven't seen any official sources (like an interview with somebody who worked on the show) that state this, just websites like TV Tropes and YouTube comments. There's quite a few things that seem to support this theory*, but I wonder if the whole tumor thing was a result of having to change the killer, while also keeping that character in the cast and be easily forgiven. Then again, if Chuck and Bob were the killers, they should have just had Chuck get the tumor like Chester did (that would explain why he treated Bob as real, though it could have also meant the end of Bob).
*Things that support the theory:
1. One of the bonus features on the season one Soap DVD, as well as Jay Johnson's own words in the documentary "I'm No Dummy!", mention that Chuck and Bob were originally only supposed to be on the show for a few episodes and then leave. I always noticed that when it was announced they were arriving, they never actually said whether they were moving in or just visiting, and if they were just visiting, they quickly changed their minds and stayed there. Though a few years ago it occurred to me that once Peter was killed, all of the suspects (including Chuck and Bob) were ordered not to leave town until they found out who the murderer was, so that likely kept them from going back home (and perhaps staying after they'd been required by law to stay for awhile). It's possible their reason for visiting was to get closer to Peter and kill him.
2. The fact that Chuck always treated Bob like he was real could have been him having a real mental problem, which also could have resulted in him killing his brother, or he could have been using Bob to fake insanity.
3. The "who killed Peter Campbell?" storyline took a fairly long time (maybe half the season), it's possible they quickly decided not to have Chuck be the killer, but needed more time to figure out who the killer was and why he killed Peter. I wonder why it had to be a Tate or a Campbell (though the officer rightfully knew it was somebody from either side of the family). Or maybe they thought it was a really strong storyline and wanted to get as much out of it as they wanted to.
TV Tropes points out one scene where Bob supposedly writes rude letters to Jodie, which doesn't get resolved and ends there, referring to it as an aborted arc, and speculates that it might be an artifact to the shows original plan for them.