I'm not a fan of this chapter. But I've been trying to get it out for a month now. Better a bad chapter than none at all.
There will be another chapter out soon, which I'm much more confident in (and will bring this particular case to a close, thank goodness).
This is chapter 1 of 2 posted today.
APRIL 12, 2014 10:00 AM
LOS ANGELES DISTRICT COURT
COURTROOM NO. 2
"Court is now in session for the trial of Phoenix Wright," boomed the judge. "And...this case has dragged on long enough." Presumably, he was referring to the shortened trial system. It was stupid, but the law specifically demanded that trials be quick. "Mr. Wright, Miss Fey, we will not be having any recesses today." He sighed. "Is the prosecution ready?"
"It is, Your Honor."
"And Miss Fey? Is the defense ready?"
"The defense is ready, Your Honor."
"Excellent. Mr. Emiya, your opening statement."
"Yes, Your Honor." He nodded. "Previously, Mr. Wright was believed to have committed accidental homicide. The prosecution no longer believes that to be true." He presented a photograph to the court. "Near the scene of the crime, several pieces of evidence were found. A red coat with Mr. Swallow's name on the tag and a handprint on the front and a broken plastic umbrella."
"Mr. Emiya!" exclaimed the judge. "Why were these not presented earlier?"
"They were just discovered yesterday evening. They had been put into a pool locker, in the men's changing room, and were removed at the end of the day and placed in the pool's lost and found, in accordance with pool policy."
"Well, then, Mr. Emiya, it's good these were found. I'd been wondering where all the evidence was, personally. It's not like you to be so short on evidence."
No you hadn't. You hadn't said a thing about the evidence yesterday. "Anyway, between this newfound evidence and a crucial testimony, the prosecution has found a far more critical possibility: Mr. Wright is guilty of conspiracy to murder."
"OBJECTION! Mr. Emiya, Mr. Swallow's death hasn't even been proved to be murder at all! How can you be sure there was a conspiracy?" asked Mia Fey. He smiled inwardly. Fey, evidently, had done some thinking.
"Miss Fey. As you proved yesterday, there are two people with motive to murder Mr. Swallow, are there not? Two people connected to this case, anyway."
Fey gasped. "You don't mean...?"
Shirou nodded. "It is the prosecution's belief, Your Honor, that Dahlia Hawthorne and Phoenix Wright conspired to kill Doug Swallow, and unfortunately succeeded."
"Mr. Emiya...that's quite a claim! I assume you have the proof to back it up?"
"Yes, Your Honor. Unfortunately, the crucial evidence, the forensic analysis of this evidence, has not arrived yet. Criminal Affairs has been swamped with cases recently. However, it should arrive within the next hour. In the meantime, some questions still must be resolved."
"Of course. Will you be calling a witness?"
"I will, Your Honor."
"What about the evidence, Mr. Emiya?" interjected Fey. "Shouldn't it be presented?"
"Strictly speaking, Miss Fey, it's illegal for me to present it at the moment. I don't have any proof it's connected to the case beyond my own intuition and the simple fact that they don't belong in a pool changing room."
Initial Trial evidence laws were strange, but they could be boiled down in almost all cases to a simple rule: "All evidence must be approved by Criminal Affairs, unless relevancy to the case at hand can be proven by the presenting lawyer." It was simple, effective, and gave space for defense attorneys to do their own, separate investigations. It was also a pain in the neck when Criminal Affairs was busy.
"As a courtesy to the court," Shirou continued, "I wanted to present them. Surprise evidence is dangerous to obtaining a correct verdict, I find."
"That is appreciated, Mr. Emiya. Now, your witness."
"Yes, Your Honor. The prosecution calls Miss...Hawthorne, to the stand." Shirou coughed. He hadn't decided how to address the twins. "The one with red hair dye, bailiff."
As the bailiff ran off, the judge gave him a look. "Mr. Emiya. Could you explain?"
He shook his head. "Your Honor, the witness will do a much better job, I believe."
"If you insist..."
The bailiff walked in, with Hawthorne that had been in court yesterday at his side. She walked up to the witness stand.
"Witness, your name and occupation."
"My name is...Iris of Hazakura. I'm a nun."
"...what?" asked Mia Fey.
"...what!" asked the judge. The audience started talking. After a moment, the judge slammed his gavel. "Order! Order!" After a minute or so, the court quieted. "Mr. Emiya! Is this not the witness from yesterday?"
"It is, Your Honor."
"Then why has she introduced herself differently?"
"Witness?"
Iris nodded. "...Dahlia is...my twin sister. She...she asked me to take her place yesterday." She glanced down at the witness' stand. "She wanted to frame me for her crimes, I think."
The judge frowned. "How unusual. Do you have proof that this is indeed the same witness as yesterday, Mr. Emiya? Her demeanor is...rather different, to say the least." It wasn't dramatic, but it was definitely obvious. Dahlia was demure, but — Shirou glanced at the woman at the witness stand — Iris looked like she wanted to be literally anywhere other than right in everybody's sight. Poor girl.
Shirou nodded. "Her fingerprints were taken this morning. We have her prints on file for yesterday, so this is definitely the same woman. Presumably, Your Honor, that was an act, meant to make her seem more like her sister."
"That's a reasonable theory, Mr. Emiya. Miss Fey? Do you have any input on Mr. Emiya's theory?"
She put her hand to her mouth, covering it as she mulled over the theory. "Mr. Emiya, you said that the fingerprints were compared and found identical. But didn't you say that forensic analysis at Criminal Affairs was slow?"
The Judge nodded. "That is an important contradiction. Mr. Emiya?"
"They were compared visually by the bailiff." He stepped out of his bench for a moment to put the three papers on the evidence table. "The prosecution submits yesterday's fingerprints, the current witness' fingerprints from this morning, and the witness' sister's fingerprints to the court."
The judge nodded. "Accepted into evidence."
"Miss Fey, if you'd like to examine?" Copies have been sent to forensics for comparison, and the Prosecution will of course submit the forensic affidavit once it arrives, but it's clear that the sister's fingerprints are different than the other two."
As Shirou returned to his bench, she walked over to the table, and examined the papers. After a moment, she put them down. "The defense has no objections, Your Honor."
"Very well. Would you like to cross-examine, Miss Fey?"
"Of course, Your Honor." She walked back behind her bench. "Miss Iris. You claimed in your testimony that Miss Hawthorne wanted to frame you for her crimes. Leaving aside questions of speculation on the part of the witness," began Fey. "You're referring to the poisoning incident last August, correct?"
Iris nodded. "That was...actually her justification. She said she didn't do anything, but she was harassed anyway. She said it was a traumatic, scary event for her, and told me...she was scared of returning to the courthouse."
"Assuming Dahlia's innocence in the poisoning, it's a believable response," Shirou said. "She saw a man she was talking to shortly before, dead. Instead of getting support in such a circumstance, she was suspected of murder."
Iris nodded. "I believed her."
"You believe she was lying?" asked the defense attorney.
"Yesterday...in court, you raised all those points, Miss Fey. About how my sister was obviously guilty."
That...that was important. Not really the points Fey made — they were fairly weak; he was being honest when he told her to shape up — but the woman's appraisal of them.
That meant one of two things. Either they were intimidating enough and strong enough to scare the witness, which was possible, but he personally doubted it.
Or they were correct, and the witness he had called knew it.
He tapped his fingers on his desk a few times, a nervous tic he'd developed over the years to help him think. "Fey's argument yesterday was awful, therefore the witness is hiding something," wasn't going to hold up. He needed something decisive.
...who was he kidding? There was no chance in the world that the case would come down to anything other than those fingerprints.
Iris continued. "It was the...only possible conclusion. She never told me...about Mr. Fawles...or..." She drifted off.
It didn't line up. . Did she say something different yesterday? He couldn't remember precisely.
Could he, in good faith, prosecute the other twin? He needed to...he needed to distract the court. Give time for Lana to arrive. Then he'd know the guilty party. What to do, then... "Miss Fey, do you have any more questions for the witness...?"
She shook her head. "I do not." Her expression was unreadable. He'd been right to see a competent defense attorney underneath that anger from yesterday.
"Then, I ask the witness to testify about...uh..." About...? He...
...had nothing. He swallowed. He would have to bring the other twin to the stand; the ends, hopefully, would justify the means.
That was his job as a prosecutor. Pursuit of justice. At all costs. He almost chuckled. Evidently Mia Fey wasn't the only person who had to face the truth about being a lawyer.
"About?"
"Never mind, Your Honor. The prosecution calls up the woman now identified as Dahlia Hawthorne to the witness stand."
The bailiff led Iris out, and brought in the other twin. The young woman stepped up to the witness stand, looking - just like her sister did - like she was a single summer's breeze from blowing away. He steeled his heart. He couldn't allow himself to feel an ounce of empathy, not yet, or the true killer would never be caught. He...would never be Kiritsugu Emiya, but he was his father's son, through and through.
"Witness, your name and occupation, please."
The girl nodded almost imperceptibly. "I am...Dahlia Hawthorne..." What.
What? Shirou's eyes grew wide. Why would she claim she's Dahlia? She has to know that Dahlia's under suspicion!
"What?" asked Fey. "You're not going to claim you're also Iris?"
"Miss...I...would not want...to lie in court..."
"That..." Shirou searched for the words. "Is commendable, Miss Hawthorne. Your occupation?"
"Student, sir."
The judge nodded, apparently having not realized what Fey and Shirou had. "Very well. Mr. Emiya?"
"Yes, Your Honor." He sighed, collecting his thoughts. "Miss Hawthorne, were you at the scene of the death of Doug Swallow?"
The girl visibly swallowed. "Yes...sir. I...was..." He blinked, and Dahlia's expression completely changed to...he couldn't tell. The flame in her eyes and her low, pained eyebrows rather contradicted each other. "I was there at the death — the killing. That's because I murdered Doug Swallow."
APRIL 12, 2014 10:25 AM
LOS ANGELES DISTRICT COURT
COURTROOM NO. 2
"Dollie!" screamed Wright, breaking the utter silence that had descended upon the courthouse. "Stop! That's nonsense, you'd never murder anybody!"
The judge slammed his gavel down. "Silence, defendant!"
Dahlia turned to Wright. "Feenie...I'm sorry, but..." She looked back up at the judge, and Shirou could see her eyes steel. "I killed Doug Swallow of my own free will, by electrocution, using the dangling wire. He knew I'd stolen poison from the pharmaceuticals lab, and I couldn't led him live. Phoenix Wright was only involved in having pushed him some time before; Phoenix was not there for the murder, and had no part in it."
Shirou clenched his fist below the desk. She was lying. He could feel it. But there was no proof. It...all made sense. The only thing that didn't was why she was confessing, but...that didn't really matter, did it? Think, Emiya, think.
"No! That's...!" Wright looked like his world was crumbling around him.
...was his girlfriend trying to take the fall? That didn't sound anything like what he knew of Dahlia, but...frankly, did anybody actually know anything about what the Hawthorne sisters were like at this point?
"Mr. Emiya...Feenie happened upon me looking over the body of Mr. Swallow...could you ask him to testify about that?"
There was more the defendant was hiding?
"Your Honor?" He glanced at the judge, keeping his face calm. Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate. He needed to get Lana here, then there'd be an actual answer.
"I'll allow it," replied the judge.
"No!" shouted Wright, standing up. "I refuse to testify! Dollie didn't do a thing-!"
"Mr. Wright...no, Phoenix," spoke Fey. She gave her client a look, a sympathetic one. "She didn't murder Doug, right?"
Wright nodded furiously. "Of course not!"
Fey smiled. "Then trust me. I'll find the holes in your testimony."
Dahlia glanced at the defense attorney, before looking at Wright. "I'm...sorry, Feenie. But...please, do it for me."
Wright pursed his lips. "...alright...I'll testify."
The bailiff led Dahlia out of the room, while another brought Wright up to the stand. As the bailiff did so, Shirou noticed Grossberg come in and whisper something to Fey.
"Defendant," Shirou said, "please state again for us your name and occupation." Maybe he couldn't do much else, but he could at least ask that.
"Phoenix Wright, student."
"Could you tell us about when you encountered Miss Dahlia Hawthorne on the day of the murder?"
"...she was standing over the body."
"You mean, Doug Swallow's?" Shirou asked.
He nodded. "Doug, yeah. At first I thought...well, that I'd killed him. Accidentally. He was just lying there, looking just like when I saw him earlier except dead. But he was nowhere near the telephone pole that I'd pushed him into. So...either he crawled over there, or I didn't do it."
Shirou nodded. "The autopsy report does not indicate recent abrasions of the fingers, knees, or even clothes, so him crawling is highly unlikely."
"Then...I realized Dollie was there. Dahlia, I mean. I mean...she looked like Dahlia..."
"'Looked like Dahlia'?" Shirou echoed. "Explain."
"She was dressed like Dahlia, and looked like Dahlia...but she...she couldn't have been Dollie. She was...a mixture of smug and angry, I guess. I've never seen Dollie be either..."
That's not exactly solid proof. "Did she say anything?"
"...just...'What are you doing here?'"
"OBJECTION!" interrupted Fey. "This is hearsay."
"Objection sustained," replied the judge. "Mr. Emiya, please refrain from asking for hearsay."
"Yes, Your Honor," he said absently, while staring at Mia Fey. Had she figured out something he hadn't? Well, that probably wasn't a bad thing. "What happened afterwards, Mr. Wright?"
"I ran away. I was...scared of Dollie...actually."
"And this was when you were found by the students?" Wright nodded. "Very well. No further questions."
"Miss Fey, your cross-examination?" asked the judge.
"Yes, Your Honor." She turned to her client. "You said that the body was 'just like earlier.' Are you certain of this?"
"Yes...?"
"Was he holding anything?" Oh. Oh. How had he missed that...? That was the purpose of a cross-examination, he supposed.
Wright shook his head. "No. He'd fallen. How could he-"
"OBJECTION!" cried Fey, interrupting Wright. "He was found holding a medicine bottle." She presented the bottle to the court. "This is a blatant contradiction! Therefore, the defendant is lying!"
Shirou sighed, before shaking his head. "Not so, Miss Fey. Perhaps Miss Hawthorne simply put it in Swallow's hand after Wright left."
"But for what purpose?"
"...presumably, it would be to frame Mr. Wright."
"But why? Hawthorne has testified that she killed Swallow, and that Phoenix was not involved. What would be the purpose of framing him?"
Shirou drummed his fingers. "What do you think, then? Tell me, why would your client lie?"
"...but, I'm not!" Wright said before Fey could reply. "There really was no medicine bottle!"
"You're certain of this, defendant?" asked the Judge.
"Yes, Your Honor."
Shirou nodded, before sighing. It fit the facts, it fit Dahlia's testimony, and it fit his intuition on Wright. Dahlia Hawthorne was guilty. "Your Honor, in light of this corroborating testimony to Miss Hawthorne's, the prosecution would like to formally indict Miss Hawthorne for the murder of-"
"HOLD IT! My cross-examination is not yet over. I have one more question. Mr. Wright...what was Mr. Swallow wearing?" Was she...? She was bluffing, definitely, but...oh. That was brilliant.
"A...a, uh, a jacket, I think. The same one he had been wearing when we met."
Mia Fey, you lovely lady you. "Mr. Wright, was it by any chance a red leather jacket?"
"Yes...?"
"May it please the court, I would like to present evidence." Shirou presented a photograph to the court. "TAKE THAT! As mentioned before, several items were found in a locker near the campus pool, including a jacket. A red leather jacket. This seems like justification for entering the evidence, does it not, Your Honor?"
The judge nodded. "Yes. The photo is accepted into evidence."
"Your Honor, I ask that a recess be called to wait for the physical evidence to arrive. It would be irresponsible to continue the trial without it."
"...I'm sorry, Mr. Emiya, but it would be irresponsible to call a recess."
"What?" muttered Shirou.
"What...?" asked Fey.
"...well." Grossberg finally spoke. "Your Honor, are you referencing the Initial Trial law?"
"I am, Mr. Grossberg. As I mentioned, we are under the obligation to end this trial as soon as possible. We are, after all, not the court of sentencing. We are simply here to see if the prosecution's case has merit."
That was...well, it was theoretically true. Shirou would formally prosecute in another court whoever was found guilty here. But...
If it went past here, it was virtually guaranteed that the verdict would be passed. And the defense attorneys for those courts...were not the type that could win any case, even one Shirou was actively trying to lose. He would have to find the truth here, or not at all.
"...I understand." turned to Mia. He opened his mouth, before pausing, closing it, and turning to Wright. "Mr. Wright, you have two options. Either Miss Hawthorne is found guilty, or you plead guilty."
"...that's ludicrous...!" Shirou muttered. "Your Honor! This is a blatant miscarriage of justice!"
"It's the law. I said it earlier - there would be no recesses."
...he'd forgotten. A woman was going to go to jail without due cause because he'd not been able to extend the trial enough, because of a random comment by the judge he'd forgotten.
"Mr. Emiya, Miss Fey, do you have any other points to make? If not, I'm ready to hand down my verdict."
He could see Fey swallow. "...no, Your Honor." She turned to the witness stand, and bowed her head. "Mr. Wright, it's your choice."
"Mr. Emiya?"
"...I...I do not..." How had this trial gone so wrong?
"Very well. Then, I proclaim the defendant, Mr. Phoenix Wright, Not-"
"OBJECTION!" shouted Wright. "Guilty! I plead guilty! Dollie didn't do it!"
No. No. A guilty plea - as opposed a witness claiming guilt - would send a defendant straight to jail; Shirou wouldn't be allowed to prosecute. That was a basic provision of the law - one even Wright no doubt knew. A definitely innocent man would definitely go to jail.
I want to save everybody...I don't want anyone to cry. That was Shirou's ideal. He...he wouldn't let anybody suffer if he could.
Not for the first time, he mourned that he wasn't able to use his Magecraft to save people. Is there anything I could do...? He wracked his brain, searching through the years he'd been in law.
...there was, actually, possibly, something, if they judge would allow it. "OBJECTION! The prosecution moves for nolle prosequi. The prosecution refuses to continue its erroneous indictment of Phoenix Wright."
"...this trial has gone too far for that, Mr. Emiya. I am not certain, but...I am certain enough to pass this on to the superior court. The court refuses your motion, Mr. Emiya."
Of course not. Could he - anything else? Anything? Could he...use his Magecraft? Could he shatter the desk with reinforcement? He'd done it with other things...accidentally, sure, but he could probably do it intentionally. That would be justification to at least pause the trial until they investigated. If he revealed Magecraft...well, he'd live with the consequences if London came for him.
He closed his eyes, reaching into the desk in his mind's eye as his spine erupted in pain. "Trace, on..." he mumbled.
The judge sighed. "Are you certain, Mr. Wright?"
"...I am, Your Honor."
"...very well." He sighed. "For what it's worth, Mr. Wright, I'm sorry. But it's the law. I proclaim the defendant, Mr. Phoenix Wright-"
The doors slammed open, and Shirou's focus was shattered. And then he glanced up, and realized that he didn't need it.
The bright sunlight streaming in behind cast the woman's face into shadow, but it was clear enough she was exhausted. Nevertheless, her brow furrowed in focus was obvious, as was the luggage case hanging at her side.
Lana!
"OBJECTION!"