Enmes Laurice: Ace Attorney
By: Joey Hirasame
Chapter 1
Facing the Turnabout - Begining.
District Court. Defendants Lobby. March, 13. 10:00 AM.
Who would've thought I'd find myself between these walls again? Not me, that's for sure. You know, I've always been that kind of guy who doesn't stop to ponder too much on things. But dear lord, how was it that I got myself into this?
"Don't worry, Enny." I feel a slap on my back, and then I see the smiley face of my defense attorney by my side. "I'll get you out of this one. I swear it on my holy mother."
"You don't have a holy mother, Elliot." If it were another person, I wouldn't be as heartless as to bring that up. But I know Elliot since law school: he doesn't get depressed over nothing.
"True enough." He simply states, before retreating from my side. I can see he walks off, but I need to stop him.
"Would you be so kind as to explain to me why can't I defend myself." I'm a full-fledged defense attorney, for crying out loud! I shouldn't have to resort to a third rate attorney to come to my aid, specially the one that got the lowest score on our generation's bar exam.
"Oh, come on!" He shouts. I flinched, but I don't think he noticed. "It'll be fun."
"They're charging me for murder!" Christ, why can't you take this seriously? Is it too much to ask for you to put on your serious face? If there's even the slightest chance for you to actually have one. "Elliot, I'm serious. The whole situation is dead serious! Would you please behave accordingly?"
"Life's too short to be dead serious about everything, Enny." Yeah, and it'll be even shorter if I lose this trial. I can see him smiling at me. How does he manage to be so calm? "Let's go. Trial's just about to start."
So, this is me. Enmes Laurice, Defense Attorney... and defendant on Herschel Batista's murder trial.
District Court. Courtroom. March 13, 10:15 AM.
I can feel everyone's stares on my shoulders, just looking down on me. As if they all were so perfect. As if they didn't make any mistakes... Ugh. This place always manages to turn me a little bitter. And all the voices go mute as the judge smacks his desk with his gavel.
"Court is now in session for the trial of Enmes Laurice." The old man states. I hope he doesn't recognize me. "Are the defense and prosecution ready?"
"Yes, your honor." That high-pitched voice, that small complexion: the ever famous Winston Payne, the Rookies Assassin, as they call him. I've never seen him win a trial, though.
"We're all set, your honor." And all of a sudden, Elliot looks serious. Not dead serious- I can still see he's trying to repress a laugh, probably at Payne's expense- but not as his usual I-don't-give-two-cents attitude.
"Mr. Payne, you may begin now." The man doesn't waste another second. He lifts some papers up to his face and starts reading.
"On the morning of March 4th- 9:45 AM, to be accurate- Herschel Batista, a teacher at Layton University for the past 15 years, was murdered inside his own classroom. The murder weapon was found by the police in a trash can, somewhere in the campus: a pocket knife, matching a stab wound on the back of the victim's neck. We also have a witness who saw the defendant leaving the crime scene 30 minutes before discovering the body." I'm not one to lose faith so early, but god am I screwed.
"I'll take a copy of that, thank you very much." And Elliot serves himself to a copy of everything.
Pocket Knife, Autopsy report and Witness' Testimony added to the Court Record.
"The prosecution would like to call the defendant, Mr. Enmes Laurice, to the stand." Oh, great. No problem, there's no way this guy can best me. I don't care about Elliot, I'll take on the prosecution by myself if I have to.
"State your name and occupation." It wouldn't kill you to say 'please', now would it?
"Enmes Laurice, Defense Attorney." I look up to see the Judge's curious stare right into my eyes.
"Have we met before, Mr. Laurice?" Agh, I was afraid he'd ask that! I need to get myself out of this question.
"My client has already been in your presence, defending in another trial." Elliot sure knows how to spit things no one wants to know. At least things I don't want people to know. "Completely unrelated to the matters at hand."
"Your honor, I would like to proceed with this charade, if the prosecution would be so kind." You're all getting on my nerves. "I'd like to get out of here as fast as I can."
"I think we all want to clear this at haste." Good. The Judge agrees with me. "Mr. Payne, proceed."
"Mr. Laurice." He emphasizes the 'Mister', for some odd reason. I don't like that. "Is it not true that Herschel Batista was one of your teachers at law school?"
"One of many." I know he'll back off if I don't let him push me. He has to. "But he's the only one who's dead."
"Mr. Laurice, please speak only to answer what you're being asked." Hey, I thought I already had the Judge on my side! Damn it. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Elliot: he's just there, staring at me blankly, as if expecting for me to do something.
"Could you describe to us your relationship with the deceased?" Didn't he just answered this same question a few seconds ago?
"He was my teacher. You said so yourself!"
"What I think Mr. Payne tried to say is, if you could tell us if you and Mr. Batista got along well." Elliot's voice rings in my ears. Huh, I had totally forgotten about him.
"Well..." What should I say. I hope I'm not screwing this up for myself. "He was just like any other teacher you could have. I only met him during our classes."
"And for the record, I'd like to point out that there weren't that many meetings, either." Shut up, Elliot. For the love of god, shut up! "My client and I always used to skip Mr. Batista's class." I see what he's doing: he scratched the possibility for a motive before the prosecution got to suggest it. It is logic for us to think that, if I didn't have an opportunity to have a relationship with the victim, I also wouldn't have the chance to get a motive to kill him.
"I'd like for the defendant to testify as to his relationship with the victim." Payne's totally ignoring us right now. That means he's scared. He should be: he's facing one and half defense attorneys!
"Mr. Laurice, if you'd be so kind." Not like I have another choice.
"He was my teacher, as simple as that."
"I only got to meet him during class."
"He used to run out of tracks, and he always got away of subject."
"If court would be nice enough to let me cross-examine his testimony, I'd be happy to do it." ...What? Cross-examine? I'm your client! You're not supposed to refute my testimony, you're supposed to work with it!
"Yes, you can, Mr. West." I should've known the judge wouldn't deny his request: it's his right as a lawyer to do a cross-examination of every testimony. It just didn't occur to me that he would also do so to mines.
Press Statement #1
"As simple as that, hu?" Why do I get the feeling he doesn't believe it? "Are you absolutely sure about that, Mr. Laurice?"
"Yes, Mr. West." I snarl, but he's not getting the message. What I'm trying to say is 'back off, you moron!' "If you doubt me, you can always present some evidence."
"Be careful, Enny." He sings, and I hate him even more. "You just might get what you're asking for."
Present Pink Envelope at Statement #1
"Objection!" I don't like the sound of that. "Mr. Laurice, I'd like for you to take a look at this." He presents a pink letter, and I don- Oh, shoot! "I present this to court, as evidence to Mr. Laurice's faulty testimony."
"How does a love letter prove a relationship between the defendant and the victim?" The judge asks, and then his eyes go as wide as saucers. "Oh, were they-"
"No, no, no, no no no no. No!" I can't let him finish that sentence. For the sake of my dignity. "No way in hell."
"This colorful letter is addressed to Enmes Laurice, AKA Messy." He lets out a laugh, but chokes on it at haste. Smart. "By one Janice Batista." He slams both of his hands onto his desk, before pointing at me shouting. "The victim's- Herschel Batista's daughter!"
And then it all went to hell. Court went into uproar and even the Judge's gavel couldn't shut them up. I could hear mutters of 'a defense attorney lying?', 'what kind of people do the let into law school these days', 'mommy, is that lawyer a murderer?', 'no honey, I think is the other way around', all of them ringing through the air.
"Order! Order, I said!" And as sudden as it started, the uproar fell to a silence, slowly. "Mr. Laurice! How can you say you had no relationship with the victim when you were in a romantic relationship with her daughter?" I have no way out of this one. Good job, Elliot! You just made me look like a liar!
"You said so yourself. I had a romantic relationship with her daughter." I say slowly, trying for them to catch my drift... But they don't. "Her daughter. Not him."
"But that's hardly no-relationship-at all!" Payne shouts, I try to murder him with my sight. He's still there, so it didn't work, I guess. "Why would you try to hide a past relationship with the victim's daughter? To hide your motive, of course!"
"Woah, slow down!" Elliot says, and we all turn to look at him. "We just proved he was dating the victim's daughter. That hardly proves he killed him. It hardly proves anything!"
"Then why did you bring it up?" I feel like jumping over the stand just to smack him senseless. He smiles at me, leans over his desk and wiggles a finger in my direction.
"I can't have you hiding any information from the court." He sings. "Doesn't look good."
"Mr. Laurice." Payne calls on me. "Testify as to your relationship with Janice Batista."
"Why?" I snap at him. But it's not like he got me mad- annoyed, of course, but not mad. The one that got me mad its my own defense attorney.
"Please us, Mr. Laurice." Elliot's enjoying this. I can tell by his expression. He shouldn't be enjoying anything: what I'm about to say might get us down.
"It was fine, I guess."
"We didn't last that long."
"Has been too long since I last saw her."
"...That's it?" Elliot asks. Why does he sound so surprised? He knows about this. "That's all you can tell us about her?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that's all you needed to know." I can tell he's mad. I'd be mad too if my client was as rude as me. Only difference is I have a reason. "What else do you need? Blood type? Medical history? Dental records?"
"The defense will manage themselves with Mr. Laurice's testimony." The judge manages to shut Elliot up, at least for a while. But here comes the ever-so-famous cross-examination.
Press Statement 2
"Why did you break up with her?" Not like it's any of your business, nor the court's for that matter, but...
"She was suffocating me." I know this is no way to speak of a past girlfriend, but come on, I'm about to get the chair for something I didn't do! There's no time to be polite. "She was always on top of me, and she wouldn't-"
"Objection!" Payne shouts, interrupting me. "The reason for their separation is of no concern to this court. Let's keep ourselves from idle gossip, Mr. West."
"Objection sustained." And that's where Elliot's line of questioning stopped death in it's tracks.
Press Statement 3
"Too long, you say?" Elliot's smirking, that means he's on to something. I hate it. "Does that mean you haven't talk to her, or seen her since you broke up?"
"Well, yeah." Stay cool, Enmes. "I haven't known about her for a while."
"The defense request for this statement to be added to the defendant's testimony."
"Mr. Laurice, if you don't mind." Of course I mind. But he's the judge: he has the last word here.
"I haven't known about since we broke up."
Present Enmes' Notebook at Statement 4.
"Objection!" Elliot shouts, getting the whole courtroom quiet in a matter of seconds. "Mr. Laurice, I find that last piece of testimony hard to believe." Well, I was sure he would. "Considering this little note you wrote on the last page of your notebook."
"How much stuff did you take out of my apartment?" First a love letter from almost 5 years ago, now this. It's like he had known I would... No. There's no way...
"That's not important right now." I'm surprised how easily he can break into my home and dismiss it as if it were not a crime. "What's important is what you wrote here: 'JB. March 4th, Layton University Room 10-3, 9:00 AM'" This will be easy to counter.
"I know what you're thinking, but JB could mean anything." His argument doesn't hold any water.
"Frankly, it matters very little." Payne's voice hurts my ears again. I turn around to look at him and he, well, he looks confident. Almost proud, I think. "Because your own defense attorney just placed you in the crime scene." ...Oh, god.
It's true... he just presented evidence to corroborate the mystery witness' testimony. He just placed me there. What the hell is wrong with you, Elliot?
"You're my lawyer!" I shout, glaring at him. "You're supposed to help me, you're supposed to believe in me! Why are you trying to get me in jail?"
"It's not what I'm doing."
"The hell it's not!" As soon as this is done, I'm gonna try to get a re-trial. And this time I'll defend myself. I thought you were my friend, I thought you'd get me out of this... "All you've been doing is-"
"All you've been doing is lie!" Elliot shouts, cutting me mid-sentence. He looks mad. Like, for real. "If you're really innocent, if want me to trust you, the least you could do is be honest to me! Hiding the truth will get you nowhere!"
"The truth..." That word... This court, this situation. It's just like that trial... "Truth is not equal to justice. This is a court of justice, not of truth. This people don't care about the truth, they just care about doing justice, and that means deliver punishment! The truth is so simple, so well made... that we all think it's just a well thought lie! Truth is something we will never be able to find!"
"Mr. Laurice... If you really think that, if you honestly believe truth and justice are not one and the same, then I'm afraid you picked the wrong profession." Elliot slams both of his hands on his desk. "As lawyers, as attorneys, it is our duty to find the truth, so that justice can be made. Enmes..." His voice softens a little, and I think this is the first time I've seen him so... serious. "The truth will set you free."
All of this was planned. He knew I would lie through the entire trial, so he brought evidence to refute my testimony. This is the reason for him to be so insistent on acting as my defense. After that trial 3 months ago, I stopped believing in truth, I forgot the reason for me to become a defense attorney and dropped all desire to step in court again. But now I see it- now I hear that voice again, calling my name.
"Fine." I mutter, my head hanging low. "I'll cooperate... and together we'll find truth, once and for all.
"Please, testify as to what happened the day of the murder." And this time, I intend to do it.
"3 Weeks ago, Janice called me on the phone"
"She said she wanted to meet me.
"Talk about something important, she said."
"I went there, just like we agreed to."
"But she didn't show up."
"I left after 15 minutes of waiting."
"I honestly hope you're not lying this time, Mr. Laurice." The judge says, glaring at me from above. Great, I think I just won an enemy.
"There's only one type of person who'd take the risk of lying in court." Payne calls. "And that's a guilty one!"
"Let's not jump to conclusions, shall we?" Elliot sings, gaining back his signature smile. And this time, it doesn't annoy me so much.
Press Statement 3
"She didn't tell you what she wanted to talk about?" Elliot asks, reading something in the Court Record.
"No. She just said it was important." Sadly, that's true, and I have nothing else to add to this.
Press Statement 6
"That would mean, assuming you got there just in time-"
"I always do." I cut him.
"I know." He sighs. "You left at 9:15. Is that correct?"
"I guess."
"What do you mean you guess?" His voice rises a few octaves, hurting my ears. "Don't you have a watch?"
"At that time, I didn't have it on me. I checked the time on that big clock tower in campus on my way in, and it said 8:52. Now, I know it didn't take me more than 10 minutes to reach the classroom, and I know exactly how much time I waited." Believe me, I have great sense of time. "If I remember correctly, there was supposed to be a clock in every single classroom, but for some reason there wasn't any in that room." I can tell by Elliot's face. He's on to something.
Press Statement 5
"You mean to say that since 9:00 AM to 9:15 AM, the only person inside Room 10-3 was you?" Elliot asks. "Nobody else?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."
"Objection!" Payne shouts. "Where's is your evidence? Or a witness? This is just a baseless lie, your honor. It's obvious he's lying his way through this."
"I'm not lying..." I mutter. It's true, I'm not lying, but I don't think anyone here believes me.
"I know you're not." I hear Elliot's voice. "And I'm going to prove it."
The judge smacks his gavel.
"I don't think this cross-examination is taking us anywhere." The judge states.
"Nor is the defendant, for that matter." Payne adds. If only I could punch him in the face.
"Your honor, I don't think we have gotten what we need out of Mr. Laurice's testimony." Elliot interjects, but I don't think it'll pay off.
"Mr. Laurice had his chance to come clean and be honest, and he chose not to." Payne's right, I know that. I think I just screwed this up for myself. "I'd like to call my next witness, your honor."
"Granted, go ahead, Mr. Payne"
"The prosecution calls Janice Batista to the stand."
And that's where things got way out of hand.
A/N: Hi, thanks for reading this new story I'm working on. Originally, this was supposed to be in Spanish, but I didn't get the response I was expecting, so I'm trying to reach a wider audience by translating it to English. It is not my first language, so feel free to point any grammar or orthographic mistakes I made.
Commenting on the story, as you can see, Enmes is the main character, but he'll be handling the cases along with Elliot. It'll be interesting to work with these two, you'll see further ahead. Reviews are love, and I love you guys.
Thanks! And I'll talk to you next chapter.