Rei Ryghts: Ace Attorney
The Dead Thief's Turnabout
By Derald Snyder
Trial- Day 2 (Part 1)
Court Record:
-Autopsy Report
-Woman's Footprints
-Crime Scene Diagram
-.30-Caliber Assault Rifle
-.338-Caliber Bullet
-Size-15 Footprint
-Wire Brush
-Fingerprint Data
August 18, 9:08 AM
Leanbox Army Base
Defendant Lobby No. 1
"Good morning, Lady Vert, Ms. Ryghts," Adrian greeted politely as he was led into the lobby, before his handcuffs were unlocked.
"Good morning," Rei nodded.
"*Yaaaaaaawwwn* Good morning," said Vert as she politely covered her mouth.
"Not used to getting up this early, m'lady?" the soldier asked with a smirk.
Rei just rolled her eyes. "That's an understatement... I had to use an airhorn to wake her up!"
"And my ears are still ringing..." Vert moaned as she rubbed her temples. The doors then opened, revealing Peach, today dressed in a yellow-and-black hoodie, reminiscent of her Ultradimension counterpart...
"Good morning!" she said in a slightly up-beat voice. "So, do you know who set up poor Adrian?"
"M-more along the l-lines of 'Adrian w-was in th-the wrong p-place at the w-wrong time,'" Rei stuttered. "B-but yes, I'm sure of w-who did it... I j-just have to p-prove it..." She then cleared her throat. "S-sorry... pre-trial jitters, I'm afraid..."
"Yeah, Colonel Cutter nearly owned you yesterday," Adrian muttered. "Hopefully you're better prepared this time..."
"Well, it's not like... *yawn*... like we're jumping in blind, like we were yesterday," Vert pointed out.
Peach nodded grimly. "OK... well, I'll be watching from the audience, so good luck!" With that, she walked out.
Rei nodded to herself. "OK, l-let's put an end t-to this once and f-for all..."
August 18, 9:30 AM
Leanbox Army Base
Courtroom No. 1
"Ten-hut!" declared General Jeffrey Lawson as he banged his gavel. "This court-martial of Petty Officer Adrian Harold Johns is now in session!"
"Locked and loaded, sir!" Colonel Cutter saluted.
"The defense is ready, General," said Rei.
"Zzzzz..." Vert snored.
The horned lawyer heaved a sigh. "My assistant, on the other hand... just a minute, sir." Taking out an airhorn, she pressed the button, filling the courtroom with a 100-decibel blast.
"AAAAAHHH!" screamed Vert. "I'm awake, I'm awake!"
"Please stay that way, Lady Vert," Rei sighed as she put the airhorn away.
"Y'know, a little warning woulda been nice, civilian..." grunted Cutter with a pinky finger in his ear. "Not that I disagree with your methods, though."
"W-well then," General Lawson shook his head to dissipate the ringing, "Now that everyone's awake and alert, let us proceed. Colonel, your opening statement, if you would."
"Yessir, General!" Cutter saluted, before beginning, "So yesterday, Ms. Ryghts here came up with the theory that Klept O. Maniac was killed not by the accused, but by a sniper hidin' on the rooftop. So, I had my men haul butt up there to see if that was a possibility..."
"And did they find anything?" Lawson inquired.
"Well, there *was* a footprint up there, left fairly recently, but nothin' that outright suggested a sniper," the colonel explained, before continuing, "But then, I got word of someone who'd been detained at the the airport around the time of the murder... and it turned out, this man had a sniper rifle in his possession!"
"Wh-whaaaaaaaattt?!" cried the general in surprise, causing the gallery to start chattering. He quickly recovered, though, and banged his gavel to quiet the crowd. "Well, this is a surprise! It seems the defense might've been onto something after all."
Cutter shrugged at this. "Much as I hate to admit it, you may just be right, General... Anyway, we went ahead had this suspect transferred to our custody as well as the relevant evidence, which I will present to the court now." He then lifted up a rifle from behind his bench, wrapped in plastic. "This here's the very sniper rifle in question... and it's also a .338-caliber, consistent with the bullet found in the victim's head... unfortunately, we couldn't find any fingerprints on this puppy..."
*Sniper Rifle added to the Court Record.*
"However," Cutter continued, "we *did* find fingerprints on the suitcase the rifle was carried in!" He then lifted up the suitcase in question, enclosed in a large evidence bag. "The suspect's prints were found on the handle as expected... there was another set of prints, though, that we haven't been able to identify yet..."
*Black Suitcase added to the Court Record.*
"Should we tell the general about the fingerprint match we found?" Vert whispered to Rei.
"Not yet," Rei whispered back. "I want to see what Cutter has up his sleeve first..." The CPU silently nodded at this.
"And what about the suspect himself?" asked Lawson.
"Well, we tried to interrogate him, but seeing as he's a legal Leanbox citizen, we couldn't be *too* rough on 'im..." said Cutter. "Anyway, he just keeps denyin' he knows anything, so I figured I'd just drag his sorry arse into court to make 'im explain himself!" He then banged his fist on the bench. "Bailiff! Have the suspect marched down to the witness stand!"
"Yessir, Colonel!" the bailiff saluted. A few minutes later, the man in question was escorted in... He was somewhat short, but not to the point he would have to stand on a box to testify... Short, bushy black hair surrounded a tanned face with brown eyes that were wide with panic, as he looked from side to side...
"O-oh man... first I get arrested, then I get dragged off by the army, now I'm being tried in military court? Oh Goddess, what have I done to deserve this?"
"Name and occupation, civilian," Colonel Cutter ordered.
"B-but I didn't do anything, man! I never owned a rifle in my life, I swear!" the man protested.
"Witness, repeated denials will only hurt your case," Lawson shook his head.
"But I didn't do anything! This is all just a big mistake! I've been framed! ...or something! Please, I've got a wife and kids back home!"
(Seems he's in too much a panic to even listen to anybody,) Rei sighed inwardly.
Vert then slapped her gloved hand on the bench. "Mr... Schneider, was it? That will be quite enough."
"Huh?" the man looked over at the defense's bench. "L-Lady Vert?! W-what the heck are YOU doin' here?!"
"I am assisting the defense in this case, in order to find out the truth of what happened," The CPU responded. "Now, first of all, you've been called here as a witness, not the accused. All we want is your side of the story, kind sir. And if you are indeed innocent, then you will have nothing to fear, as my lawyer is quite relentless in her pursuit of the truth..."
(Wait a minute, since when was I *your* lawyer, Vert?!) Rei thought as she sweat-dropped.
"I have... nothing to fear...?" The tension seemed to visibly drain from the man's face as he finally managed a small smile. "Y... yeah... Yeah! If Lady Vert's got my back, then I've got nothin' to worry about!"
"Thank you, Lady Vert," General Lawson sighed in relief. "Now then, witness, your name and occupation, please."
"Right... OK." The man took a deep breath. "OK... my name is Henry Schneider, and I'm a businessman from southeast Leanbox. I was supposed to be on a business trip, before the crud hit the fan... I mean, things just happened so fast, y'know?"
The general/judge nodded. "Well then, Mr. Schnieder, if you could give us your testimony about the events that led up to your arrest..."
"Y-yessir," Henry assented. "Well, I got off my plane like normal, then I went to the conveyor belt and grabbed my suitcase. But on the way out, I was suddenly hit with a sudden urge to use the toilet! So I left my suitcase outside while I rushed in and... did my duty, so to speak. When I came back out, I thought something looked odd about my suitcase, but I figured I was just tired from the flight and bathroom break... But then, as I was walking out, metal detector started beepin' like crazy! I had no idea what was going on! Then they opened the suitcase, and I was just as shocked as everyone else to see that sniper rifle in there! It was supposed to be my clothes in there! But the guards didn't believe me and dragged me off, and... well, you know the rest, right?"
Lawson closed his eyes as he pondered the testimony. "So, the witness is asserting that his spare clothes were supposed to be in his suitcase, not the rifle?"
"That's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Your Honor!" Schneider asserted. "And now, I've got nothin' but the clothes on my back! Just my luck..."
"Hmph. Sounds plausible enough," muttered Cutter, "but let's see if your story stands up to scrutiny!"
"Indeed. The defense will now cross the witness."
"Yes, sir," Rei nodded. "First of all, Mr. Schneider... what time did you get off the plane, exactly?"
"Uhh, about noon I think?" Henry tapped his fingers together.
"Can you be more specific?" Rei pressed.
"No need, civilian!" Cutter cut in, waving a small stack of papers in his hand. "I've got the whole flight manifest for the day of the incident right here! Read it and weep!"
"Very well, the court accepts the flight manifest into evidence," stated Lawson.
*Flight Manifest added to the Court Record.*
"May I see that?" Rei asked politely. The manifest was promptly passed to the bailiff, who walked over and handed it to Rei. "Thank you." Adjusting her eyeglasses, she began skimming over the list... "Mr. Schnieder, what flight were you on?"
"Um, #33, I think..."
"OK, then... let me see..." the lawyer muttered as she turned the pages until she found the number. "Ah-ha, here we are, Flight #33... Arrived at... 12:35 PM!"
"Yeah," Henry nodded, "that sounds about right..."
"But then, we have a problem," Rei continued, "because this contradicts with the autopsy report!"
"It does?" said General Lawson.
"That's right, sir," Rei nodded, holding up the report in question. "Because, according to this, the victim died at about 12:25 PM... about ten minutes earlier! In other words..." She slammed her fists on the bench. "By the time Mr. Schneider's plane touched down, Klept O. Maniac was already long dead!"
"Good Heavens! You're right, Ryghts!" the judge/general gasped in shock, causing the crowd to begin murmuring.
"Which also means, that Henry Schneider could *not* have been the sniper that fired the fatal shot!" Rei asserted.
"Yes! Thank you! Oh, thank you, Ms. Ryghts...!" Henry gasped as he nearly collapsed with relief.
"Heh heh heh..." Colonel Cutter suddenly chuckled. "Not bad, civilian. It seems you can at least put two and two together... even when it puts you in a corner."
"How so, Colonel?" Rei challenged.
"Yes, what do you mean?" asked Vert.
"Ain't it obvious? You've eliminated the only viable suspect you had other than the accused!" Cutter pointed out. "After all, Mr. Schneider was the only one on the scene with a sniper rifle in his possession!"
"But it ain't mine, man!" Henry protested again.
"Mr. Schneider, please," the Leanbox CPU admonished.
"It's okay, Mr. Schnieder, I believe you," Rei added. "And Colonel Cutter... nice try."
"Whaddaya mean, 'nice try'?" the colonel/prosecutor growled.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," Rei said with a sinister smirk. "Unfortunately for you, I don't get fooled twice. You tried to make me prove your case for you once again... But see, I never suspected this witness to begin with. I has another suspect in mind all along, fool!"
"You did? But who?" inquired General Lawson.
"Allow me to present the evidence that implicates this suspect, General! TAKE THAT!" Rei presented the fingerprint data to the bailiff, who handed it to the JAG officer.
"Hmm... this looks like a fingerprint analysis," Lawson observed.
"Correct, sir," Rei nodded. "Colonel Cutter may not have been able to identify the second set of prints on the suitcase containing the sniper rifle... but we did!"
"Wh-what?!" Cutter gasped, sweat starting to bead on his face. "You did? But how?!"
"We had them compared against the Leanbox military database, on a hunch," Vert explained. "After all, it only makes sense that a trained sniper would have served in the Leanbox Army..."
"Indeed," muttered Lawson. "It appears the prints in question belong to one retired Gunnery Sergeant Steve Hauser, according to this analysis..." He closed his eyes, deep in thought. "I could swear I've heard that name somewhere before..."
"Of course you have, mag- um, sir," Rei caught herself. "*Ahem* You see, this gunnery sergeant happens to be the older brother of Mr. Rickard T. Hauser... AKA Klept O. Maniac, the victim!"
"Wh-whaaaaat?!" gasped the general.
"GAAAHHH!" screamed Cutter as he recoiled from an imaginary gunshot. "The victim's b-brother?! It can't be...!" The crowd started chattering excitedly.
"Oh yes it can be, maggot!" Rei declared as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Because Lady Vert and I met Mr. Hauser on the day of the crime, when we were investigating the alley where the victim met his end!"
"Indeed we did," Vert nodded in agreement. "And Detective Eddie Green can back us up on that. Although, we initially thought he was there to pray for his brother's departed soul..."
"Yes, that sounds reasonable enough..." General Lawson nodded.
"However, that was *not* the case!" Rei declared, pointing her index finger. "In fact, we ended catching him just as he was departing the scene of the crime... the crime that he committed! That is, sniping his brother Rickard to death!"
"OBJECTION!" Colonel Cutter banged his fist on the bench. "Now wait just one cotton-pickin' minute! Why the heck would this former gunny decide to go off and kill his own flesh and blood for? Even if he *was* a thief, that don't justify killing him!"
"Ummm..." Rei faltered.
"Hmmm..." Vert pondered for a moment, before something came to her. "Oh, wait! I remember something Mr. Hauser told me, while we were discussing his brother..."
("...to call him the 'black sheep' of the family would be an understatement. Believe me when I say my family did everything they could to try and help him... to no avail.")
"It could be... he thought his brother was beyond help," the CPU postulated.
Cutter growled, "So what, he just decided to off him like a rabid dog? Put him out of his misery?"
"R-regardless, h-his prints are th-the second set on th-the suitcase c-containing the s-sniper rifle!" Rei stuttered slightly. "A-at the very least, w-we need t-to bring him in f-for questioning!"
"I agree," said Lawson. "Colonel, could you go and fetch Sergeant Hauser for us?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Cutter saluted. "I only need half an hour to drag that gunny's rear end in here! Not a minute more!" Turning back to Rei, he said, "This fight's just begun, civilian! You still have to prove this guy was the one that pulled the trigger, after all. This battle can still go either way!" With that, he retreated in a crouching sprint like yesterday.
"Very good," the general nodded. "In the meantime, we'll adjourn for a short recess. I expect everyone to be back here by 1037 hours sharp!" He then banged his gavel. "But for now... Dismissed!"
To be continued...