August 3rd, 2016

9:47 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 2

Phoenix Wright paced the length of the lobby, trying and failing to force her mind to relax. Her nerves were running in overdrive, and the confidence she had started the day with was nowhere in sight. A large mirror hung on the wall opposite the door. She stopped, taking a moment to examine herself.

While her attire gave the appearance of a professional, her face certainly didn't reflect it at the moment; her neck-length black hair framed an unusually pale face, and her grey eyes were slightly bloodshot. She shut her eyes.

(Deep breaths, Phoenix.)

"You can't just ignore me all day, Phoenix!" the exceptionally loud voice of Lexine Butz barked from next to her, only further shaking her frayed nerves. She spun around.

"I'm sorry, Lex. It's just... it's my first trial, and you're at stake here, and-"

"So I'm the one that ought to be nervous." Lexine cut in. "Hell, I oughta be breakin' down in front of you, given what happened to Carlos." Phoenix took this in. Lexine Butz had been her best friend since their school days, and had never been one to lose her spirit, regardless of the situation. Even now, with her latest boyfriend dead and she herself framed for the murder, the tomboyish young woman kept her head up, the very picture of confidence.

"You don't need to apologize, Phoenix." Lexine said, roughly patting her on the shoulder. "You're my best friend, and I trust you."

"Thanks." Phoenix muttered, glancing toward the doors. At that moment, they swung open.

"Morning, Phoenix. You all ready for your debut?" asked her mentor, Micah Fey, as the doors closed behind him.

"Guess I am, Boss." she answered, attempting a smile.

"C'mon, Phoenix." Micah said, "You don't need to be this worried. I'll be right there on the bench with you the whole time." Phoenix gave a half-hearted shrug.

"It's just that Lex is on the line here, and-"

"I understand, Phoenix." Micah said patiently. "Your friend is innocent, and we're going to be able to prove it."

"Er, thanks, Boss." Phoenix said. Micah smiled.

"Not a problem." he said. "Now, get ready for real. The trial's starting in two minutes."

August 3rd, 10:00 AM

District Court

Courtroom No. 2

The ongoing chatter from the gallery vanished as the judge struck his gavel.

"The court is now in session for the trial of Ms. Lexine Butz." he announced.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honour." the prosecutor said in a reedy voice.

"Th-The defense is ready, Your Honour." Phoenix stammered slightly too quickly. The judge glanced toward her.

"Ms. Wright, this is your first trial, correct?" he asked calmly.

"Er, yes, Your Honour." Phoenix replied. "I'm just a bit nervous." The judge nodded.

"I'd advise you to keep a level head. Your behaviour will decide the fate of your client, after all. This is a very serious charge."

"Of course, Your Honour." Phoenix said, steadying her voice.

"I presume that you have taken down the case's details in your court record?"

"Yes, Your Honour."

The judge nodded again.

"Very well. Mr. Payne, you may call your first witness."

"Yes, your Honour. The prosecution calls the defendant, Ms. Lexine Butz to the stand." Payne said in the same reedy voice. Phoenix turned to Micah.

"Boss, anything I should know?"

"Just make sure to pay attention. This information will be important." Micah said firmly. A moment later, Lexine stopped at the witness stand.

"Ms. Butz, am I correct in saying that your relationship with the victim, Mr. Carlos Stone, was getting a bit shaky in the time before the murder?" Payne asked. Lexine glanced aside, looking mildly annoyed.

"You could say that, yeah." she said dismissively.

"Am I also correct when I say that, until the day of the murder, Mr. Stone was on a business trip in Paris?" Payne continued. Lexine sighed impatiently.

"Yeah. He left three weeks ago, on the Tuesday."

"This trip, it was related to his freight company, correct?" Payne went on. Lexine seemed to be running out of patience with his questions.

"Yes. He was supposed to be gone for another week, but something came up, and he had to come back." she said. Payne gave a small chuckle.

"Very well." the judge said, nodding. "If you would, Ms. Butz, please testify to the court about Mr. Stone's early return."

"Ehh, all right." Lexine said, shrugging.

"Pay attention, Phoenix." Micah whispered. "Ask her any questions that you think you might need, but don't worry too much about Payne. He's not a particularly threatening opponent." Phoenix nodded.

"Like I said, Carlos left three weeks ago. He was going to Paris for about a month to work out a deal with some big-name company over there. Everything seemed to be going alright until two days ago." Lexine said.

"HOLD IT!" Phoenix shouted. Everyone in the courtroom turned at her outburst, staring at her. "Um... Hold it. Lexine, you're sure that this problem came up two days ago?" she asked, nervously glancing around the room. Lexine paused for a moment.

"Well, that's when he called me about it. I guess it could have been earlier, but-"

"Your Honour, I doubt this is relevant to this case." Payne cut in. The judge shook his head.

"It would seem that way. Ms. Wright, please try to stick to important points." he said.

"Right... " Phoenix muttered, dropping her gaze.

"It's OK, Phoenix. Just keep calm." Micah said soothingly.

"Anyway, he called to tell me about a problem with his documents for the trip," Lexine continued.

"Hold it!" Phoenix yelled again, slightly more quietly. "I should have asked this before, but what was the problem that forced Mr. Stone to return early?"

"Your Honour, this can't be-" Payne began, but the judge cut across him.

"I'll allow it this time." he said. Lexine nodded.

"I'll just let all of you hear about it from Carlos himself. He explains it better, after all." she said. The judge raised his eyebrows.

"From the victim? But that's not possible!"

"Your Honour, Ms. Butz is in the habit of recording her calls on her cell phone." Phoenix explained, hoping to avoid any confusion. The judge relaxed.

"I see. Very well, Ms. Butz, you may play this recording."

"On it." Lexine said, turning on her cell phone. Shortly after, a tone sounded from the phone.

"Call from Carlos Stone."

"Carlos?" said Lexine's voice.

"Hey, Lex." said a deeper voice. "Sorry to bother you, but there's a problem over here. I can't talk for long, I haven't got much long-distance time left. Basically, I lost one of my documents before I left, but I didn't notice at the time. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in your apartment, so I'm about to catch a plane back to pick it up. The trip's funding covers the extra flights, so there's nothing to worry about." There was an odd sort of echo in Carlos's voice.

"What'd it look like?" Lexine's voice asked.

"It's in a fairly small grey envelope that's marked with "Transferral Confirmation". It should be in my extra filing bin, which I left in your apartment." Carlos's voice said. There was a pause, with the sound of Lexine shuffling through what sounded like a box of papers, before she spoke again.

"This looks like it." she said.

"You found it? Great, thanks. Listen, I've gotta catch the flight, I'll see you tomorrow to pick it up." Carlos said quickly. "Meet me at my place, it's closer."

"Got it. See you tomorrow, Cal." Lexine said.

"Bye."

There was a beep, and the recording stopped.

"That's all." Lexine said, putting her phone back into her pocket.

"Ms. Butz, what was the reason for that strange echo in the recording's background?" the judge asked.

"I had the call on speaker phone." Lexine said. The judge nodded.

"I see. It would seem that this call places both you and Mr. Stone at his apartment in time for the murder." he said. Phoenix flinched, a light sweat forming on her neck.

"This doesn't look too good, Boss." she mumbled, turning to Micah.

"Don't panic yet, Phoenix. There's still room for someone else at the scene." he replied.

"Right... "

"Hee hee hee... " Payne's tiny laugh could be heard from his bench. "Tell us what happened the following day, when you went to Mr. Stone's apartment." he said, a smug look on his face.

"Alright." Lexine said, glaring at Payne. "When I got to Carlos' apartment, he was waiting in the entryway. The door was open. I gave him the document, and he got me to leave pretty quickly. I guess he needed to get ready for his return flight."

"Hold it!" Phoenix called again. "Lex, what time was it when you gave him the document?"

"About 9:40 in the morning." Lexine answered. Phoenix glanced down at the papers on the bench.

"According to the autopsy report, Carlos was killed at about 9:50, in his apartment. Did you see anyone else there at the time?" she inquired.

"I wasn't really looking around much, but there wasn't anybody on the balcony I was on." Phoenix began to sweat again.

"Er, thanks, Lex." she stammered. Payne's irritating laugh sounded from the other end of the room again.

"This does cast further suspicion on Ms. Butz." the judge said. "Mr. Payne, I believe you had a second witness to call?"

"Yes, Your Honour. But first, I'd like to bring some details about the crime scene to the court's attention." Payne said. "Firstly, we have the murder weapon. Mr. Stone was killed by traumatic force to both sides of his head, which was found to be from having the front door to his apartment slammed shut on his head." There was a ripple of cringing around the room. "Importantly, the door handle was found to bear only the fingerprints of Ms. Butz and Mr. Stone."

"Damn... " Phoenix whispered as Payne went on.

"Secondly, I must confess that we were unable to find the document that Ms. Butz spoke about anywhere in or near the apartment." he said.

"That is most unfortunate." the judge said. "Now then, your witness, Mr. Payne?"

"Of course. On the day of the murder, my witness was selling newspapers in the victim's apartment complex. Please bring Ms. Fern Sahwit to the stand!" Payne called. The bailiff stepped out of the courtroom.

"This is where it gets serious, Phoenix. You've got your information, now you need to use it find the holes in the witness's testimony." Micah said firmly.

A few moments later, the bailiff returned, followed by a short and seedy-looking woman, who took the stand.

"State your name and occupation, please." Payne said. The woman put on an outrageously forced smile and nodded.

"Certainly. My name is Fern Sahwit. I sell newspaper subscriptions door-to-door." she said in a simpering voice. Phoenix groaned.

(Why do I already feel like I'm gonna hate this woman?)

"Ms. Wright, you may begin your cross-examination. Ms. Sahwit, please testify to the court about what you witnessed on the day of the murder." the judge said.

"Of course, Your Honour." Sahwit said in the same simpering voice. "I was going about my usual business, shortly before 10,"

"Hold it!" Phoenix yelled once again. "Ms. Sahwit, do you know exactly what time it was at that point?" she asked.

"I can't remember specifically, but I suppose it must have been around 9:45, or so." Sahwit responded, still flashing her incredibly fake smile.

"Alright, go on." Phoenix said, jotting down a note.

"As I neared the scene, I saw a young woman, Ms. Butz there, leaving the victim's apartment. She seemed to be in quite a hurry."

"Hold it!" Sahwit's smile faded slightly.

"Yes, Ms. Wright?" she asked.

"Are you certain that it was my client that you saw there?" Phoenix questioned.

"Of course I'm certain. I recognize her appearance, and there was nobody else around." Sahwit said lightly. Phoenix gestured for her to carry on. "As the woman left, I noticed that she had left the door open slightly. I thought this was odd, so I approached and glanced into the room. There, I found the victim, his head bleeding profusely!"

"Hold it!"

"Yes, Ms. Wright?" Sahwit growled, her false smile completely vanishing.

"You claim that the victim was already dead when Ms. Butz left the apartment, correct?" Phoenix asked.

"That's what I said." Sahwit answered, her voice quivering slightly. "The defendant must have killed him just before I rounded the corner."

"That seems odd. Not only does it not match up with what Ms. Butz told us earlier, but shouldn't you have heard a struggle if the murder occurred so near to you?" Phoenix went on.

"That does seem a bit odd." the judge agreed. "Ms. Sahwit, did you, by any chance, hear anything from the victim's apartment at the time?"

"I didn't hear anything of the sort." Sahwit snapped.

"Hm. Mr. Payne, do you have anything to add?" the judge asked.

"I-... Um... No, Your Honour." Payne said, looking a bit nervous. The judge shook his head.

"I believe this requires further testimony. The autopsy report confirms that the murder did occur at roughly the time that Ms. Sahwit describes, but it does seem odd that there wouldn't be any sound of struggle from such a violent attack. Ms. Sahwit, please go into a bit more detail about the moments before you reached the victim's apartment."

"Fine." Sahwit said through her teeth. "The apartment block is in a relatively noisy area of the city, so if I did hear any sounds coming from the apartment, I didn't distinguish them from the other noises in the area." she suddenly glared at Phoenix, as if daring her to interrupt. She did not, and Sahwit continued, "I didn't hear much speech either, but if the defendant was just giving the victim a document when she arrived, she wouldn't have needed to-"

"OBJECTION!" Phoenix shouted, standing up straight and dramatically pointing her finger toward Sahwit.

"What is it now, Ms. Wright?" Sahwit asked, agitated. Phoenix smirked.

"Ms. Sahwit, you claim not to have heard anything said by either of the people present in the apartment, correct?" she inquired.

"Yes, Ms. Wright. Nothing of the sort." Sahwit growled, to which Phoenix chuckled.

"If that's the case, Ms. Sahwit," she paused briefly, "then how could you possibly have known that Ms. Butz's reason for being there was to give Mr. Stone a document?" Sahwit flinched.

"I- er... I was... " she stammered, unable to answer. After a moment, however, she seemed to compose herself. "I... I suppose I should have mentioned this earlier. On the day before the murder, I was selling subscriptions in a different building. It must have been the building that Ms. Butz lives in, because I heard her discussing it with Mr. Stone there." Phoenix shook her head lightly.

"That's quite a coincidence, Ms. Sahwit." she said.

"Indeed." the judge said, nodding.

"Well, yes, I-" Sahwit was stammering again, "I suppose it is... "

"Ms. Butz's apartment complex is quite a distance from Mr. Stone's. Surely there are more buildings that you could have been working nearer to Ms. Butz's?" Phoenix continued, not letting the pressure off. Sahwit couldn't seem to form an answer. Phoenix smirked again, a sudden inspiration coming to her. "Do you want to know what sounds more likely to me? I think that you must have heard Ms. Butz talking with Mr. Stone about the document, and followed her to his apartment the following day!" she said.

"Objection!" Payne yelled in an astonishing high-pitched voice. "Y-your Honour, this is undue badgering of my witness!" The judge looked uncertain.

"Ms. Wright," he asked, "this is quite an accusation you are making. Why do you suspect this of Ms. Sahwit?"

"Well, Your Honour, Mr. Stone was a fairly notable businessman, being the CEO of a freight company. If Ms. Sahwit was present outside Ms. Butz's apartment when Mr. Stone called her about the document, it doesn't seem unreasonable to suspect that she may have had some questionable thoughts about this document. After all, if it were important enough that Mr. Stone would travel all the way back from France just to retrieve it, it would certainly have been quite valuable." Phoenix said confidently, crossing her arms as she stared at Sahwit, "Perhaps even enough to inspire Ms. Sahwit to go as far as to steal it!" she finished, slamming her palms onto the tabletop. A loud rumble of speech broke out through the gallery as Payne leapt back in shock.

"Order! Order!" the judge shouted, striking his gavel until the noise died down. "I do find it quite unlikely that Ms. Sahwit would happen to be at these two seemingly unrelated places with the perfect timing to encounter these two conversations between the defendant and the victim. Mr. Payne, what are your thoughts?"

"Er... this is... Ms. Wright is just continuing to badger my-"

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Payne." the judge cut in. "Ms. Wright raises a very good point." he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tell me, Mr. Payne. Do you have any evidence related to your witness to submit that may support her claim?" Payne was hunched over, now looking quite nervous.

"Y-yes, Your Honour. The witness gave the police her work satchel when they arrived at the crime scene. It contained a stack of subscription forms and two pairs of latex gloves." he said, sweating.

"Very well. The court will accept these items into evidence."

In her break from speaking, Ms. Sahwit seemed to be relaxing. Her forced smile had reappeared, and she was standing upright again.

"Ms. Sahwit," Phoenix began, "I notice that you are not wearing gloves at the moment." she observed.

"You're right. I only wear them on the job. It wouldn't do to be rubbing ink all over the other newspapers, after all." Sahwit said, back to her simpering tone.

"But, didn't we just hear that there are only order forms in your satchel?" Phoenix asked. Sahwit let out a panicked sort of noise. "Surely you don't need gloves if all your job involves is subscription forms?" Sahwit fell silent again, and Phoenix decided to take another jab. "Although, if we go back to my earlier point about the possibility that you planned to steal the document from Mr. Stone, we get an explanation for both your choice to wear gloves and for the document itself to be missing!" she slammed her palms on the table again. "After all, if you entered Mr. Stone's apartment to kill him and then stole the document, you wouldn't have left fingerprints on it or the door!"

"Gaaah!" Sahwit's yell was all Phoenix needed.

"Objection!" Payne blurted, sounding quite panicked himself. "I... Your Honour... "

"Overruled." the judge said, shaking his head. "Well, Ms. Sahwit? As sudden as Ms. Wright's accusation is, if your behaviour is any indication, it's not far from correct." Sahwit looked livid. Her teeth were gritted, and she was still unable to give a response.

"Hee hee hee... " Phoenix suddenly stared toward Payne. Somehow, he was laughing again. "Well, this is all fine and good, Ms. Wright, but do you have any proof? Can you prove my witness did any of those things?"

"I... wait... " Phoenix paused, her confidence vanishing. "I... I don't... " she said, slumping. Payne laughed quietly again.

"That is most unfortunate, Ms. Wright." the judge said, shaking his head. "This is quite a detour we've taken. Ms. Sahwit, if you would, please finish your earlier testimony."

"O-of course, Your Honour." Sahwit said, trying to restore her fake smile.

"Dammit... " Phoenix muttered.

"That was incredible, Phoenix." Micah whispered. "I know it looks bad right now, but you haven't lost yet. You've almost got her."

"But, Boss, there's nothing left for me to... " Phoenix began, breaking off as Sahwit resumed speaking.

"As I was saying, I found the victim on the floor, his head bleeding from injuries on both sides,"

"Hold it!" Phoenix shouted once again, getting desperate for a lead. Sahwit seemed to be a breath away from shouting in response. "Um, what else did you notice about the scene?" Phoenix asked.

"Well," Sahwit was gritting her teeth again, "there was a mark on the wall and door, so I thought that the victim must have had his head struck between the door and the frame-" she stopped as Phoenix let out a relieved laugh.

"Thank you for that last bit, Ms. Sahwit. That was exactly what I needed." she said, casually flicking her bangs aside to improve the effect of her intense stare.

"What do you mean... ?" Sahwit growled.

"It says right here in the autopsy report that the traces of blood found on the door and door frame were only found when the forensics team was called in." Phoenix said, reading off the report.

"W-what!?" Payne yelped, panicking again.

"I think there's only one conclusion here, Your Honour." Phoenix said, her confident smile returning. She cast her arm forward again, pointing her finger at Sahwit. "Ms. Fern Sahwit, or perhaps I should say, Ms. Fern Did It, the only way you could have known how the victim was killed at the time was if you killed him yourself!"

Sahwit was uttering a series of incoherent growls. As the crowd's loud speech returned, she let out an enraged yell, slamming a fist down on the witness stand.

"You... with your 'objections' and your 'evidence'... " were the only words that could be distinguished from her guttural tone.

"I think this proves my point, Your Honour." Phoenix said, turning toward the judge, who, while looking quite surprised, nodded.

"I think I must agree, Ms. Wright. Bailiff, if you would." he said. The bailiff stepped forward to restrain Ms. Sahwit, who immediately began to flail her arms as she was dragged from the courtroom.

After the bailiff returned, the judge looked toward Phoenix.

"Well, Ms. Wright. I must say, I'm quite impressed. I don't think I've ever seen someone complete a defense in such a short time, and find the true culprit at the same time."

"Thank you, Your Honour." Phoenix said, giving a nod.

"Now then, at this point, this is just a formality, but this court hereby finds the defendant, Ms. Lexine Butz, not guilty."

The crowd broke into applause, and Phoenix looked around in slight confusion as confetti began to rain down from around the courtroom.

"Court is adjourned."

August 3rd, 2:32 PM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 2

"Congratulations, Phoenix! That was a fantastic performance in there." Micah said, clapping Phoenix on the back.

"Th-thanks, Boss. It was all because of you, though... " Phoenix said, her face reddening very slightly.

"Not a chance. You did all the work in there." Micah said, waving a hand dismissively.

"Hey, Phoenix!" came Lexine's voice, just a moment before she tackled Phoenix in a hug. "Thanks for everything." she said as she pulled away. "Hey, why don't we all go get dinner, my treat?" she suggested, looking from Phoenix to Micah. Phoenix glanced at her mentor, as well.

"That sounds great." Micah said after a moment's pause.

As the trio left the courthouse, Micah turned to Phoenix.

"Well, Phoenix, I hope you understand a bit more about what you're here for now; what being an attorney is really about. Remember, we can never really know if our clients are guilty or not. All we can do is trust in them. That's one of the things I value the very most. Always trust in your client, no matter what." he said, smiling.

"I think I do understand, Boss." Phoenix said, returning the smile.

And that concludes our introductory case. As you can see, I'm being fairly particular about who I apply Rule 63 to, as there are some characters I just can't stand to change, like our dear old Udgey.

Like always, feedback is appreciated.