Earthcub12 Presents
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney ~ Courtroom Champions
-August 22, 11:32 AM-
-District Court-
-Courtroom No. 4-
"Go ahead, then, Mr. Vaughan." The Judge continued. "Give us your final – and I do mean final – testimony."
"Thank you, Your Honor." Steven Vaughan said, smiling. "I'll make this last one real good, you'll see!"
WITNESS TESTIMONY
"I CAREFULLY ENTERED RICHARD'S OFFICE, PLANNING MY ATTACK."
"I QUICKLY CHARGED FORTH WITH THE CROWBAR IN MY HAND."
"I KNOCKED RICHARD TO THE GROUND. IT LOOKED LIKE HE WOULDN'T GET UP ANYTIME SOON."
"SINCE THAT PSYCHIC WAS A KEY WITNESS, I TRIED TO NAB HER TOO, BUT SHE GOT AWAY."
"BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER. AFTER I FINISHED RICHARD OFF, I GRABBED MY BLOODY CROWBAR AND MADE MY PERFECT ESCAPE."
"Hmm… I feel like we've been here before…" The Judge observed. "Mr. Wright!"
Caught off-guard, Phoenix turned to the Judge. "Y-yes, Your Honor?"
"You're turning my good mood into a sour one. If you can't turn things around in one, single attempt, I will be forced to pass down my already-decided verdict!"
Phoenix lit up. "Wait… one try? That's it!?"
The Judge nodded. "You've forced my hand. No pressing the witness. No fooling around. That's it. One small slip-up, and one major penalty is coming your way."
The pompous Mr. Payne chuckled, twirling his ponytail. "No pressure, Mr. Slight. We're awaiting your final move. But again, no pressure."
"Mr. Wright! Is… is he for real!? One try!?" Athena nervously asked her boss.
"I've been in these kinds of situations before, Athena. He's not messing around."
"Do… do we have anything…? At all?"
Phoenix glared at the smirking Steven. (Steven is going to continue to deny unless I can turn things around. All I have to do is find one faulty statement and kill it with evidence… in ONE SHOT."
The Judge slammed his gavel. "Now, then, Mr. Wright. Continue with your last cross-examination with the witness."
Phoenix continued to stare at his client, trying to recall the testimony he heard. "A crowbar… a crowbar…" Phoenix whispered to himself. Then something hit him. He looked through the Court Record and found the crowbar in the record. The crowbar was stainless. Hardly an ounce of blood on it. That's it.
"BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER. AFTER I FINISHED RICHARD OFF, I GRABBED MY BLOODY CROWBAR AND MADE MY PERFECT ESCAPE."
"OBJECTION!" Phoenix yelled, his finger pointing at Steven. "Steven… about your testimony…"
"Mr. Wright!" Steven Vaughan snapped back. "If you're going to present needless evidence to me, at least do it with respect! I know nothing about that evidence! Tell him, Your Honor!"
His Honor glared at Phoenix with a dangerous expression. "Well, Mr. Wright? What do you have to say to that?"
Mr. Payne grinned, still twirling his ponytail. "Go ahead, Kleenex Slight. Answer His Honor. Don't be nervous, now."
Phoenix stared at Steven. "Your Honor… I have to say… Steven's act is finally over."
"WHAT!?" Steven gasped,
Phoenix projected an image of the crowbar to the courtroom. "This is the crowbar that was used to kill Mr. Mann, was it not?"
"I… I… yeah… it was!" Steven weakly responded. "What of it?"
"Mr. Payne? May I ask where the police found it?"
"Hmm, let's see. Ah! Here it is! The police found it right outside the mall, haphazardly buried in the ground. It seems the assailant was in a rush to dispose of it. Why do you ask?"
"Tell me this, Mr. Vaughan and Prosecutor Payne." Pressed Phoenix, rubbing his chin. "If this weapon was, in fact, the weapon… why is there no blood on it?"
Steven looked at Phoenix, puzzled. "Wait… what!?"
"Normally, if you were to beat a man to death with a blunt object, wouldn't there be just a little bit of blood?"
Steven gasped and lunged back. "BUT… BUT…!"
"OBJECTION!" Mr. Payne shouted, hunched over and sweating. "Th-this is trivial! The killer obviously cleaned the blood on the weapon before disposing of it!"
"OBJECTION!" Retorted Mr. Wright. "Don't be so naïve, Mr. Payne! The crime happened at around 11:47 PM. Steven was caught just minutes after the crime. Do you really think he'd have time to kill Richard, clean the blood off the weapon, and bury it, only to return to the crime scene again?"
"URK!" Mr. Payne whimpered.
"But… but Mr. Wright!" The Judge called. "If the crowbar isn't the murder weapon, then-?"
"No!" Steven yelled. "You're wrong! I-it's the weapon alright! I should know!"
"There is only one way to prove that, Mr. Vaughan." Phoenix told him. Phoenix slammed his hands on his desk and said, "One blood analysis should prove that once and for all!"
"OBJECTION!" Payne cried out. "Now, now, Mr. Wright! You insult the investigators. Of course a blood test was done. Tell him, everyone!"
The court grew silent. Not even a mouse scurrying could be heard. Sheldon Payne hunched over again and coughed. "You mean… no blood test was done…!?"
"I guess since a murder occurred right next to the buried weapon," Athena theorized, "the police probably just figured it was the weapon anyway. Or they simply just overlooked the blood DNA."
"Well, that does it. The defense requests a blood analysis done on the crowbar right now!" Phoenix ordered.
The Judge nodded in agreement. "Bailiff! Take the crowbar and have a test run right at this moment!"
Many moments passed before a bailiff entered the courtroom with a sheet of paper.
The bailiff announced, "The crime scene investigators wish to apologize for any confusion and inconvenience they have caused. Now then, as for the DNA itself…"
(This is it, Phoenix. This'll make or break your entire claim! Get ready for anything!)
"…there is, in fact… blood on the crowbar." The bailiff finished.
Silence grew in the court. Phoenix broke into a nervous, cold sweat. The Judge gave a stunned, surprised look while Payne, as always, smiled and played with his ponytail. "Typical. I expected no less."
"…However…"
Everyone regained their thoughts and looked over at the bailiff.
"It is not Richard Mann's blood." He added.
"It's… it's not Richard Mann's…?" Phoenix asked, his heart thumping.
"No. It's blood of a one Mr. John Banks. Somebody completely unrelated to this case."
"Wait. You mean…" Mr. Payne tried to process this development, as did everyone else, "this crowbar is completely unrelated to the murder of Richard Mann!?"
"That seems about right." The bailiff responded. "John Banks is a part of an unresolved murder case that occurred just last week. But, hey! We now found the murder weapon! So… I guess everyone wins. Again, the analysts wish to apologize for any confusion they may have caused."
(Now that's an understatement if I ever heard one!)
After his words, the bailiff left the courtroom, taking the crowbar with him, removing it from the Court Record. The Judge just sat there, still appearing to be stunned and distraught. "W-well… this puts a dent in things, doesn't it? Now we have no murder weapon! Just great!"
"But… I don't understand…"
All eyes turned to Steven Vaughan on the witness stand.
"There… there must be some misunderstanding!" Steven muttered aloud.
Phoenix shook his head. "Sorry, Mr. Vaughan. It's all over. You can stop pretending now. You used no crowbar. You did not kill Richard. Are you ready to admit that?"
"NO!" Steven snapped, sweating. "There must be another one! He must have been talking about another crowbar! Yeah, that's it! That's what Stone must have meant!"
Phoenix stared at Steven. "Steven… what did you say?"
"I said, there must have been another one! Mr. Stone told me that there is definitely a crowbar somewhere! I just-."
Steven caught himself and froze. The Judge stood there, staring at the defendant. Mr. Payne did so too, sweating bullets. Phoenix and Athena just stood there, eyeing Steven.
Steven started to sweat just as hard as anyone else. That's when he started to break down.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
As he was screaming, Steven started to beat himself with his own club, bruising his face, until he collapsed on the floor.
Moments later, Steven finally got up and stood at the witness stand, avoiding eye contact.
"Mr. Vaughan," The Judge said, "what did you say…?"
Steven froze. "I… I… slipped. A slip of the tongue…"
(It's okay, Steven. Go on.)
"Mr. Stone, my boss… he… he killed Richard. I saw it before my own eyes. I was used."
(I knew it!)
"Used?" The Judge repeated, shocked. "What do you mean you were used?"
"He told me everything. Oliver Stone is a man with contacts. Dangerous contacts. Richard Mann started to get suspicious. He tried to get close to Oliver to figure out his secrets. Oliver caught on and… killed him before Richard could get more info."
"Oliver Stone, the chief of security? THAT Oliver Stone?" Phoenix asked.
Steven slowly nodded. "The plan was to pin everything on that psychic."
(He must be talking about Rosie Flowers. That would make sense, since she was in the crime scene that night anyway. It would have been easy to pin everything on her.)
"However, she escaped. Oliver rushed out, looking for her."
"And you witnessed all this!?" The Judge questioned.
Steven nodded again. "I was standing by the doorway the whole time. Oliver rushed out another way and when he left, I tried to resuscitate Richard, but he was long gone. Soon, Oliver returned and saw me. I guess that's where he found his play-thing for the crime."
"You said Oliver Stone told you all this? When was that?" Phoenix pushed.
"When he arrested me." Steven answered. "He sounded quite furious. But deep down… I knew he was trying his best not to laugh."
"But… why!?" The Judge asked. "Why would you play along?"
"He… he blackmailed me. He… threatened my family. If he were to ever be suspected for the crime… but wife… my children…"
"Blackmail!?" The Judge yelled in fear.
"That's enough, Steven." Phoenix consoled. "You don't have to say anymore; but what about your confession? What do you have to say to that?"
Steven froze. "I… I take back what I said." Steven replied. "I take back my confession."
The gallery began to converse until Mr. Payne interrupted.
"Ha!" Mr. Payne laughed. "Please! This could all be another act by the defendant to play the 'victim'!"
The Judge replied, "That's true. After all, this case is confusing enough already, and a confession that turns out is not a confession doesn't help."
Phoenix nodded. "I understand, Your Honor. Which is why we demand testimony from Oliver Stone himself!"
"What!?" Mr. Payne snapped.
"Hush, Mr. Payne!" The Judge barked. "The defense is right. As these suspicions stand, I cannot, with good conscience, end things here. Which is why we will allow a testimony from Mr. Stone himself after a 30-minute recess. However, as they are, as I stated, mere suspicions, if nothing revealing is uncovered, I will go about my verdict. Is that clear?"
Phoenix nodded. "That's fine, Your Honor."
"Good." The Judge responded. "I hereby summon a 30-minute recess. Court is adjourned!" The Judge slammed his gavel as everyone stood up to leave.
-August 22, 1:01 PM-
-District Court-
-Defendant Lobby No. 4-
"WAY TO GO, BOSS!"
Athena looked cheeringly at Mr. Wright. "For a minute there, I thought we were done for! You turned everything around with one, single evidence! If I was in that situation, I would have had a heart attack!"
"Remember, Athena." Phoenix tutored. "No matter the pressure, no matter how high the stakes, you must remember to keep your head. All you must do is eliminate the impossible. Only then will the truth come to light."
"Noted!" Athena smiled.
"How'd it go, guys?"
Phoenix and Athena turned to a proud-looking Apollo.
"Apollo! You're back just in time!" Athena told him.
"Yeah, sorry I took so long." Apollo said, scratching his head. "So what did I miss? Did we win?"
Phoenix and Athena informed Apollo everything that went down, from Steven's faux confession, to the mistaken murder weapon, and to the threat against Steven's family from Oliver.
"Man… I can't believe it." Apollo said, amazed. "That was a close one, I'll say."
"Yeah. Speaking of, where is Steven?" Phoenix asked them.
Phoenix turned as saw Steven standing next to him, still avoiding eye contact.
"Oh! Steven! You doing alright?"
Steven was mute. Then, he sighed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wright."
"Huh?"
"I… I should have trusted you. I nearly got you a loss and I wasted a lot of time. Maybe I am a waste of space…"
"Steven…" Athena tried to console.
"I'm probably the worst client you've ever had, huh?" Steven sighed pathetically.
"Actually, Steven… you're not." Phoenix answered. "In fact, you're probably one of my most unique clients I've had."
"Huh?" Asked Steven, his face lighting up.
"You're one of the few clients I've had that was a completely pathetic wimp – no offense – but at the same time, incredibly brave and bold."
"You're… you're just saying that to make me feel better! Aren't you a little angry?"
"No, not at all." Phoenix responded honestly. "What you did there was daring and risky, but brave. Whether it's right or wrong, courageous or stupid, I cannot answer with certainty. Because that's not up to me. But what matters is that you worried for your family and put yourself on the line for them. That's bravery."
"I… I… thank you, Mr. Wright." Steven said, finally grinning.
"But you need to trust me, Steven. You, and your family, are in good hands."
"Your brother puts faith in lots of people." Added Apollo. "Can you say the same?"
Steven processed this question, then stood straight up. "Okay! I'll stay strong… for my family!"
"Am I interrupting this little group therapy session here?"
Oliver Stone stood straight up, glaring at everyone. "Mr… Mr. Stone!" Steven gasped.
"Steven… I can't say I'm not a little bit disappointed in you. Lies and manipulation is not a man makes. A man should be able to hear, and to bear, the worst that could be said of him. If you wish to pin everything on me, your superior, I'm afraid you and I must have a little chat. Please excuse Mr. Vaughan and I, if you will."
Oliver began to walk towards Steven until Athena stood right in front of him, blocking Stone's path. "There's nothing here for you, Mr. Stone! We have nothing to say!" She confidently and firmly stated.
Stone growled. "You. You women are all the same! This is a man's matter! Don't you know I can break you into two if I wanted to? Now, step aside, before I-!"
Apollo joined Athena, blocking Oliver. "You don't talk to her like that! Ever! You hear me!?"
Stone chuckled at the pair. "Or what? You think I'm afraid of some half-bit man-child and his red-headed accessory? Give me a break!"
"You're forgetting the ace attorney that turned them into the strongest pair of lawyers I know."
Phoenix stepped in with Apollo and Athena. They all glared at Stone. Stone just skeptically stared at them and chuckled again.
"I see how it is. Fortunately for all of you, I am a gentleman, and I find no enjoyment out of quarrels. We will finish this in court today. After we are done, I will show you all what it means to rise and fall. I look forward to it."
Stone nodded at them, then left.
Apollo growled. "Damn animal! I oughtta-!"
"Easy, Apollo." Phoenix assured. "He'll get his. Did you find anything at the crime scene? Anything at all?"
"Huh? Oh! With all the chaos, I forgot to tell you. I decided to look around and I found this in the Security Office. It's Oliver's journal."
"Huh?" Phoenix responded. "His journal? You went through his journal, Apollo? You can't just-."
"This is no time for morals, Wright!" Apollo snapped. "Besides, you saw who he truly is. Maybe there's some dirt in there that'll bring him down. Plans for the murder in there, maybe?"
Phoenix skimmed through the journal.
"Nah, nothing in here. I guess he didn't write it down in case somebody were to be too nosey. However, there does seem to be quite a bit of dirt on Steven in here."
"Dirt?" Steven asked. "What kind of dirt?"
"Hmm…" Phoenix looked through the pages. "It's in great detail about stuff you've done while on shift. Slacking off, disorderly conduct, stuff like that."
"Oh." Steven said, blushing. "I… I can explain all that."
"That can wait, Steven. For now, the question is, why would Stone do all this?" Apollo asked.
Phoenix looked up at Apollo. "No idea. Best to make note of this just in case."
'OLIVER STONE'S JOURNAL' ADDED TO COURT RECORD
ITEM DESCRIPTION: A section from Oliver Stone's journal. Details unprofessionalism and poor workmanship on Steven's end.
"I think that's about all the time we have." Athena announced. "Apollo, you coming?"
"I don't know." Apollo answered. "I think it would catch everyone off-guard to see a new attorney enter the court. I'll leave this up to you two."
"You sure?" Phoenix asked Apollo.
"Don't worry. You'll do just fine, guys! I'm rooting for you!"
With that said, Apollo left to the gallery, leaving just Phoenix, Athena, and Steven.
"Phoenix… Athena…" Steven weakly said. "If… if Oliver were to be set free… my family…"
"It won't come to that, Steven. I promise." Phoenix said reassuringly. "Trust me."
"I do, it's just…" Steven said. "I… I trust you… Mr. Wright."
Phoenix smiled, then nodded.
(This is it. The final encounter. You had best ready yourself, Stone. I'm coming for you.)
EVIDENCE OVERVIEW:
-Attorney Badge
-Victim's Autopsy Report
-Crime Photo
-Security Camera Feed
-Rosie Flowers Business Card
-Street Diagram
-Witness Crime Photo
-Oliver's Journal