I was reading the Wikipedia page for Elizabeth Báthoryry and was surprised to see that there is some dispute over her guilt. It's not unexpected to learn that her crimes may have been exaggerated over the centuries (the bathing in blood detail seems to be a fabrication, for example), but I hadn't heard any theories put forward to suggest she was outright framed until I saw it in the article I linked to above.
How plausible is it that she was the victim of a political conspiracy to falsely accuse her that took on the aspect of a moral panic? Did she maintain her innocence? How reliable is the physical evidence that was collected against her?
The theory that she was framed has gained traction only within the last few years, after the movie "Bathory" by one of Slovakia's best-known directors Juraj Jakubisko, was released. He alleged that she was framed by her husband's best friend, Juraj Thurzo, in order to gain her properties, which she inherited after her husband died.
The evidence against her is rather circumstantial, partially thanks to Thurzo, because her arrest was kept in relative secrecy, as not to embarrass her and her family. However, there have been some strong indications that she's been a cruel and hated woman (she could not leave her castle without an armed escort), and that Thurzo actually had her best interest in mind and had her arrested as the very last resort. He waited with the arrest until he convinced her children to split the family property among themselves, in order for her family property not to be confiscated when she was found guilty (in the movie, she commits suicide, so that her young son gets her lands, instead of the greedy Thurzo). He also never set a trial for her, as not to cause her embarrassment. A trial was held against her four helpers: one man was beheaded, two women burned at the stake, and one woman imprisoned for life. Bathory herself, however, was never tried, only kept in solitary confinement.
Due to Thurzo's intention to keep Bathory's acts off the official record (he wasn't so skittish in his letters to his wife, which were preserved and describe lots of Bathory's atrocities), the survivors of her torture were never interviewed by the courts. This led some to believe that without direct evidence, she was framed.
(Note: Sorry for not providing any source material. I grew up within cycling distance of the castle and learned what I wrote as a matter of general education plus a few more books. However, after Jakubisko's movie came out, a number of articles was published in Czech and Slovak media (sorry, no English language versions), trying to set the record straight. Most of them are written for the average reader, but here are a few for illustration: 1, 2, 3)