Rei Ryghts: Ace Attorney
Turnabout Of The Revengers
By Derald Snyder
Trial- Day 1 (Part 1)
Court Record:
-Crime Scene Photos
-Broken Stage Light
-Piece of Cloth
-Red Spots
September 17, 9:44 AM
Lastation City District Court
Defendant Lobby No. 3
Uni was somewhat fidgety as she and Rei waited for K-Sha to be escorted from her cell to the lobby. Soon the Gold Third member arrived, escorted by a guard, S-Sha also accompanying her.
"G-good morning!" Rei tried to sound cheerful as K-Sha's handcuffs were unlocked.
"Hi, K-Sha, S-Sha," Uni acknowledged. "I hope it wasn't too rough for you in jail, K-Sha..."
"I'm fine," K-Sha answered. "I've survived in worse conditions than that, after all..."
"So... d-did you come t-to watch the t-trial today?" Rei asked S-Sha.
"That's right," S-Sha nodded. "I called B-Sha and C-Sha and told them what happened. They were both distraught, especially B-Sha... but they were unable to come to court today, due to prior obligations."
"Well, this trial did kind of happen on short notice..." Uni pointed out. "By the way, where's that Tori kid?"
"He wasn't interested," S-Sha shrugged. "He seemed convinced that K-Sha was guilty, though he didn't say it outright..."
"Guess we'll just have to prove him wrong then," Uni asserted. "Right, Rei?"
"R-right!" the lawyer nodded.
"...You don't sound very confident," S-Sha observed.
"She always sounds like that when she's not in goddess form, though," K-Sha pointed out.
"Is that so?" the white-haired woman muttered. "By the way, I heard the Oracle herself is prosecuting?"
"R-really?!" K-Sha gasped, looking over at Rei and Uni.
"Well, you know Kei," Uni shrugged. "Always trying to be as efficient as possible..."
"Miss Attorney!" the bailiff called. "Court is about to commence! Please bring the defendant with you and take your place at the bench!"
"Guess that's our cue," the twin-tailed goddess muttered. "You ready for this, Rei?"
"A-as I'll ever be," the lawyer nodded nervously.
"I will be watching from the gallery," S-Sha stated. "K-Sha, Ms. Ryghts... good luck." With that, she turned and walked out.
"OK then," K-Sha took a deep breath to calm herself. "Mission start!"
September 17, 10:00 AM
Lastation City District Court
Courtroom No. 3
"Order! Order!" The judge banged his gavel to quiet the courtroom. "This court will come to order! The trial of K-Sha of Gold Third will now commence."
"The defense is ready, Your Honor," Rei stated solemnly.
"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," Kei Jinguji concurred.
The judge, an older man with black hair, black eyes, gray mustache and beard, neatly trimmed, blinked as he peered through thick-rimmed spectacles. "Oracle Jinguji? You're leading the prosecution today?"
"That I am," Kei nodded. "I know it's been a while, but given the circumstances, mainly the fact that I am already familiar with the facts of the case, led to my decision to stand in court today."
"I see," the judge nodded in comprehension. "That's just so like you, Oracle..." He then looked over at the defense's bench, before doing a double-take. "Please tell me that's not Rei Ryghts I'm seeing leading the defense..."
"Meep!" Rei squeaked as the crowd started to murmur. (I should have seen this coming...)
"So what if she is?" Uni spoke up defiantly. "Both Noire and I are perfectly fine with this, so deal with it, Your Honor!"
"CPU Candidate Uni?!" the judge blinked in surprise. "You're assisting this woman?!"
"Th-that's right," the goddess's voice wavered slightly. "K-Sha's a good friend of mine, after all!"
"It shouldn't matter who the defense attorney is anyway," Kei spoke up. "After all, you're supposed to be IMPARTIAL, aren't you, Your Honor?"
The judge visibly recoiled at this. "W-well, that's... er, *ahem* Y-yes, of course you're right, Miss Jinguji..." He then banged his gavel once, to quiet the gallery. "It's just, I happened to be vacationing in Planeptune when she caused that ruckus..."
"I'm sorry! I'm so very sorry!" Rei reflexively apologized. "I d-don't even remember d-doing that anyway...!"
"Yes, I know," the judge acknowledged. "You were found not guilty by reason of insanity, if I recall..."
"Which means she deserves the benefit of the doubt, right Your Honor?!" Uni insisted, slapping one hand on the bench for emphasis.
The judge nodded twice at this. "Y-yes, of course... that being said, I won't tolerate any misbehavior from you in my courtroom. Is that understood, Ms. Ryghts?!"
"Y-yes, Your Honor!" Rei agreed. "I p-promise, I d-do my l-lawyering b-by the book!"
"Good." The judge banged his gavel. "Now then, if you would present your opening statement, Oracle..."
"*Ahem*," Kei cleared her throat loudly in disapproval.
"I-is something wrong, Oracle?" the older man asked.
"I would prefer that you use the proper title when addressing me, Your Honor," Kei stated. "I am the prosecutor for this case, and you will refer to me as such."
The judge recoiled again. "O-oh, right, of course, Oracle... I mean, Prosecutor Jinguji..."
"Wow, Kei sure has the judge whipped, huh?" Uni muttered to Rei.
"S-she sure does," the lawyer agreed. (Though in this case, that might actually be a *good* thing...)
The judge then cleared his throat. "Anyway, Prosecutor Jinguji, your opening statement, if you please."
"Thank you, Your Honor," Kei nodded, before beginning, "The incident occurred yesterday on September 16th at Lastation City Production Studios, just before 2 PM. Director Steven Iceberg and his crew were wrapping up shooting a scene for his latest movie, when a stage light fell and crashed on the studio floor. Thankfully no one was injured, however that incident led to the discovery of the dead body of Reggie Wright, a stage light technician and close acquaintance of the director. It appeared that he had been shot dead while adjusting the lights above where the scene was being filmed. And it just so happens that the defendant fired a machine gun towards the ceiling during filming... at precisely the spot where the body was discovered!"
The crowd began murmuring at this, until the judge banged his gavel. "But, if what you say is true, Oracle- *ahem* Prosecutor, then wouldn't this just be a tragic accident? Why bring this case to trial?"
"Two reasons," Kei answered. "First, the director disputes the order of events. He is adamant that Mr. Wright would not be stupid enough to put himself in such a dangerous position to begin with. The second reason," she continued, "is that a yellow journalist by the name of Razzie Porter managed to gain access to the crime scene, and threatened to insinuate a scandal due to Mr. Wright's death. Thus, I decided to bring this case to trial in order to pre-empt him."
"Razzie Porter... I know that name," the judge muttered in disgust. "He forced one of my fellow judges to retire from the bench early, on nothing but hearsay and circumstantial evidence!"
"It's fine, Your Honor," Uni cut in. "That guy ran like a chicken with his head cut off when he realized that Rei here was really upset with him!"
"Oh my!" the judge's eyes went wide. "I likely would have done the same thing, if I were in his shoes..."
(You're not exactly helping my standing with the judge here, Uni!) Rei thought to herself, sweating slightly.
The judge then banged his gavel. "Anyway, Prosecutor Jinguji, I believe it's time you called your first witness..."
"Very well," Kei nodded. "The prosecution calls Detective Harold Thomas to the stand!"
The detective looked much the same as yesterday, though he'd put on a formal tie for his court appearance.
"State your full name and occupation for the record," Kei ordered.
"M-my full name?" The large man stammered. "Do I have to...?" His only response was an insistent glare from the Lastation Oracle. "OK, OK... My name is... Harold Dick Thomas. I'm the detective leading the investigation..."
"No wonder he didn't want to give his full name," Uni muttered. "I can already see the pun..."
"Detective Thomas. Please testify about the results of your investigation," Kei stated.
"Yes, sir!" Thomas answered. "So, if everyone could take a look at the diagram here..." He held up a large drawing. "This is a diagram of the stage where the shooting took place. The defendant was standing close to the center when she pointed her machine gun up and fired a short burst, in accordance with the script. And right above, up in the rafters, is where the victim's body was found. Mr. Wright had three bullets lodged in his chest, the center one was the fatal shot, though the other two probably didn't help..."
*Crime Scene Diagram added to the Court Record.*
"I assume you have the autopsy report, then?" Kei inquired.
"Yes, ma'am! Right here!" Thomas exclaimed, holding up some papers. "We included the ballistics test along with it... the bullets found in Mr. Wright's chest were definitely from the gun used by the defendant in the scene filming."
"They were?!" gasped Uni. The crowd began mumbling and muttering, until the judge banged his gavel.
(Par for the course for me...) Rei sighed inwardly.
*Autopsy Report added to the Court Record.*
"So you have the weapon in question, detective?" the Oracle asked.
"Yep!" Detective Thomas lifted up the gun in question, wrapped in plastic. "It's one of a pair that was used by the defendant for the filming... But of course, even identical guns have different rifling patterns..."
"Could we have a little more info on the gun in question? ...unless you'd like to enlighten us, Lady Uni, seeing as you're the firearms expert here..." Kei suggested.
"Uh, s-sure!" the goddess nodded. "It's a .30-caliber automatic machine gun that fires continuously when you hold the trigger down. However, this particular model, if you only pull the trigger briefly, will simply fire a short, three-round burst. I personally recommended it to K-Sha so she wouldn't waste so much ammo during filming..."
*.30-caliber Machine Gun added to the Court Record.*
"I see," the judge nodded. "But why not use blanks instead of real bullets?"
"That was the director's idea," Uni shrugged. "You'd have to ask him, though he did ask me to help set up the stage so no-one was shot by accident..." She then bowed her head in shame. "Never thought about the ceiling, though..."
"OBJECTION!" Rei cut in. "Uni, there was no way you could have known about that...!"
Kei just sighed and put a finger to her forehead. "Objecting to your own partner, Ms. Ryghts? Really?"
"I-I'm just saying she sh-shouldn't beat herself up t-too much..." the lawyer protested.
"This from the woman who constantly beats herself up over every little thing..." the Oracle shook her head.
(Ouch! That was low, Jinguji!) Rei winced to herself.
The judge then banged his gavel. "Alright, ladies, if we could move on, please... Detective Thomas, did your investigation turn up anything else?"
"Well, we looked around the whole studio for blood spatter, at Lady Uni's request..." Thomas muttered, one hand to his bearded chin. "But other than a false alarm, we didn't find anything of the sort. So the only conclusion we can draw is that Mr. Weight was killed right where his body was found, during the filming of the movie scene..."
"OBJECTION!" declared Rei. "Unfortunately for you, Detective, I have evidence that disputes your theory!"
"What?! You do?!" Thomas gasped, eyes wide.
"You do?!" cried the judge.
"Yes, I do," Rei nodded. "I'd like to call your attention to this scrap of cloth found near the body. If you compare it to the crime scene photo, you'll find it matches perfectly with this tear in the victim's shirt..."
"And just what is that supposed to prove?" Kei challenged. "Clearly the victim just tore his shirt when he was getting into position..."
The former goddess just shook her head. "I'm sorry, prosecutor, but I'm afraid that's not very plausible. The piece of cloth is located quite low on the rafters, which means it'd be a stretch to believe that Mr. Wright simply got his shirt caught. And even if he did, wouldn't he simply stop and dislodge his shirt, instead of allowing it to tear?"
"Oh my! That's a good point!" exclaimed the judge.
"So then," Rei continued, "Wouldn't it be far more believable that this tear happened... because Mr. Wright was *dragged* across the rafters?"
"Dragged?" Kei raised an eyebrow.
"But, why would Mr. Wright let someone drag him across the rafters?" Detective Thomas muttered in confusion.
"Simple, Detective," Rei declared, pointing her finger. "Because Mr. Wright was already dead!"
"What?!" Thomas cried in shock. The crowd began chattering in confusion...
"...Interesting. Continue, Ms. Ryghts," Kei deferred.
Rei nodded. "The defense's theory is this: Reggie Wright was shot dead by K-Sha's gun before her scene was filmed, then his corpse was quickly moved into position after the shoot was completed! The haste with which the body was moved explains the tear in his shirt! And may I add," Rei slammed her fists on the bench, "If Mr. Wright had really been shot dead when K-Sha fired into the rafters, wouldn't the blood from his wound have dripped down to the stage?!"
"...!" The Oracle's eyes went wide as she tensed up.
"Oh noooo!" cried Thomas, clutching his hair. "I didn't even think of that!"
"Order! Order!" The judge banged his gavel several times to quiet the gallery. "Well, Ms. Ryghts, I must say I'm impressed... with just one scrap of cloth, you've completely turned this case on its head!"
"OBJECTION!" Kei interjected. "Your Honor, you've forgotten one very important fact!"
"And what would that be, Prosecutor Jinguji?" The judge asked.
"The fact that Detective Thomas and his investigative team already searched the entire studio and found no blood spatter anywhere!" the Oracle pointed out.
"Oh, right..." the older man muttered. "How do you respond to that, defense?"
"Well, who said that Mr. Wright was killed in the studio?" Rei responded. "The possibility still exists that the victim was killed in one of the other studios, or in one of dressing rooms, or anywhere else in the building, for that matter! Did that possibility ever occur to you, detective?!"
"Uh, well..." Thomas stammered.
"In fact, may I remind the court," Rei continued, "that the only reason Detective Thomas searched the studio in the first place was specifically because Uni herself requested it!" She then slammed her fists on the bench. "Detective Thomas, you're a sham! As soon as you heard about K-Sha using a gun in her scene shoot, you had already made up your mind that she was the guilty party! You let your personal bias influence your investigation, you pathetic worm!"
"AAAAGGHH!" Detective Thomas cried, clutching his head in his hands. "I'm sooooooorryyyy!" The crowd started chattering again.
"Order! Order in the court!" yelled the judge as he banged his gavel several times.
"...I'm disappointed in you, Detective Thomas." Kei shook her head. "I'm afraid I have to concur with the defense, at least as far as your bias is concerned. I'll be sure to make a note of this for when your next salary assessment comes about."
"Auuugghh! Not a pay cut! Anything but that!" Harold Thomas pleaded.
"Step down, detective. You've done enough for one day," the Oracle stated bluntly, causing the bearded man to hang his head and slowly walk off in shame.
"Geez, I almost feel sorry for him now," Uni sighed. "Kei sure doesn't pull her punches when it comes to incompetence..."
"Well, he b-brought it on himself," Rei shrugged.
The judge then banged his gavel once more. "Well, so far, the defense seems to have made a compelling case... that Mr. Wright was at least not killed where his body was found."
"The question is, if that's the case, then where was he killed?" Kei Jinguji pointed out. "Would the defense care to make any suggestions?"
"I'm, um, s-still working on th-that..." Rei grunted, tapping her index fingers together...
"HOLD IT!" a loud male voice called out, which caused everyone to turn their attention towards the courtroom doors...
A golden suit of futuristic armor stood there, making a silly pose. "When the sword of evil swings down, the one and only Titanium Man is there to stop it with his indestructible armor!"
"T-Titanium Man?!" the judge gasped in confusion.
Kei was not amused. "...Mr. Downer, do you have something you wish to say to the court?"
The man in robot suit faltered, before removing his helmet, a sheepish look on his face. "I'm guessing you didn't like that entrance? Guess I gotta work on the delivery, huh?"
Immediately the gallery erupted into excited chatter. "Oh my goddess! Is that who I think it is?!" "It is! It's Tony Downer in the flesh!" "Oh wow! He looks even dreamier in person!" "Eeeek! He just looked at me! I think I'm going to die!"
"Order! ORDER! Order in the court, I say!" The judge yelled as he banged his gavel repeatedly, to no avail.
"QUIET!" Uni screamed as loud as she could. That did the trick, the crowd quieting down, apparently not wishing to provoke their CPU Candidate any further. The goddess then gestured to Rei, rubbing her suddenly-sore throat.
"Um, right," Rei shook her head to dissipate the ringing from Uni screaming practically in her ear. "*Ahem* Mr. Downer, are you here to testify, or just make a fool of yourself?!"
"Um, well, you see..." Downer stammered. "I think... I think I might've witnessed the moment of the murder!"
"WHAT?!" cried the judge.
"WHAT?!" Rei yelled as well. Uni looked surprised as well, as the crowd started murmuring in confusion.
Even Kei looked shocked. "Your Honor, may I request a short recess in order to confer with Mr. Downer on what he witnessed?"
"Y-yes, I think that would be prudent," the judge agreed. "We will take a ten minute recess in order for the prosecution to properly prepare the witness, and for Lady Uni to regain her voice. Court is adjourned!"
To be continued...