Earthcub12 Presents

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney ~ Courtroom Champions

-Turnabout for a Prayer / Trial 1-5-

-September 4, 12:15 PM-
-District Court-
-Courtroom No. 4-

CROSS-EXAMINATION

"WAIT! I REMEMBER NOW!"

"Hold it!" Phoenix Wright pressed. "Why did it take you so long to recall the real story?"

"Objection!" Hera shouted at him. "Well, obviously it was when you began attacking him just five minutes ago, Wright. If you were paying attention, he explained that. Besides, this statement is irrelevant. Witness, continue."

"THE REASON I SAY HE WAS HIT MULTIPLE TIMES WAS BECAUSE OF THE FIGHTING GOING ON IN THE ROOM."

"Hold it! The fighting? You mean…?" Phoenix questioned.

"When I peeked in, I saw the two priests wrestling for a bit until that Owen guy was shoved to the wall and SPLAT-ed." Jack explained. "So that's why I was confused with how many times Mr. Owen was hit with the statue."

"Sure, but a large statue like that shouldn't be that hard to miss."

Hera chimed in, saying, "The room was dark, ergo this witness couldn't fully see what was occurring in the room. He merely made a mistake. That is all."

"Pretty big mistake if I say so myself…"

"Well, take it for what it is, Wright-y." Hera taunted. "To err is human. The witness' eyes purely fooled him, nothing more. So I think we're done here. Continue with your examination."

(Hera wants to play it off as if he made an honest mistake. Whatever the case may be, I need to break this guy's testimony apart – and fast!)

"IT WAS A PRETTY NASTY FIGHT, IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF."

"Hold it! Could you describe the fight you saw in more detail?" Phoenix asked of him.

"Sure, sure." Jack said. "It was dark, mind you, but I think I saw some interesting stuff. They were pushing each other, stuff was falling; it was mayhem. At one point, the killer was pinning the other guy on the desk. Then the killer screamed and released the guy. Don't ask me what that was about."

"Someone screamed?" Phoenix asked. "Did nobody in the main room hear that?"

"I forgot to mention, but music was also playing in the service room while the guy was doing his 'prayer'. Also, it was more a heavy groan, so it was still a little soft. So I guess it was hard for everybody to hear what was going on."

"Could you elaborate on what you saw, please?" Phoenix asked Jack. Jack pulled up the Church's diagram and pointed to the crime scene.

Mr. Anchor continued, "First, I saw David entering the crime scene, see? Then, he approached Mr. Owen and that is when they clashed. From what I could barely see, Mr. Vaughan grappled Owen and began to strangle him."

"My!" The Judge gasped. "What a quarrel!"

"Oh, it gets better, Your Honor!" Jack grinned.

"AT ONE POINT, I HEARD THE SOUND OF SOMETHING BREAKING, LIKE GLASS OR SOMETHING."

"Hold it!" Phoenix shouted. "Glass? Would you happen to mean the window?"

Jack shook his head. "Nope. The window was still intact when I looked in. No idea what the sound was."

Phoenix rubbed his chin and thought, (He heard the sound of some kind of glass breaking… what could it be?)

"Well, Wright?" Hera called. "Any ideas what the sound was?"

After a brief silence, Phoenix nodded his head. "Yes. I think I know what the sound was."

"Mr. Wright?" Apollo Justice said to him. "You know the source of the shattering sound?"

"I think I do." Phoenix said, his body turning to the court. "I'd like to present what evidence I think Mr. Anchor heard shatter."

"Very well." The Judge said. "What evidence do you think the witness heard breaking?"

"Take that!" Phoenix presented Owen's shattered coffee mug. "Do you know what this is, Mr. Anchor?"

Jack Anchor examined the mug. "Hmm… looks like some kind of coffee cup… yes… yes, that's it! That's the sound I heard!"

"Do you know what this cup was used for?" Phoenix asked him.

"Why, if I remember correctly, and, let's face it, I always do," Jack went on, "David Vaughan was using this cup as a way to dispose of Mr. Miles."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Phoenix questioned.

"I remember clearly. I saw David put some kind of liquid into his coffee." The witness explained. "I can imagine he brought the mug up to Owen's office in order to poison the priest! It didn't end so well; Owen knew he was being played and threw the cup, then they started fighting!"

(So you say David tried poisoning Mr. Miles. I haven't heard that one yet.) "Your Honor, I wish for the witness' statement be added to his testimony!"

"Of course." His Honor nodded. "Witness?"

Jack flashed a smile and popped a bubble. "Anything you all wish!"

"DAVID VAUGHAN TRIED POISONING OWEN MILES WITH THE COFFEE CUP!"

"Hold it!" Phoenix pressed Mr. Anchor. "How do you know David was trying to poison Mr. Miles?"

"Easy!" Jack exclaimed. "He poured Mr. Owen a cup of coffee and added some… mysterious substance into the cup. Like bleach, or rat poisoning, or what have you."

"You saw him do this?"

"I wouldn't say so if I wasn't for sure. I didn't think nothing of it at first, so I let it go. But thinking back to it now, it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"That's enough of that." Hera interrupted. "Witness, please elaborate on the final blow. That is all that matters here."

"THE VICTIM WAS FINALLY SHOVED TO THE WALL AND THEN THE KILLER HIT HIM ONCE WITH THE STATUE."

"Hold it!" Interrupted Mr. Wright. "Oh, so NOW you say it was one hit?"

Jack grinned as he brushed his hair with his hand. "I just made a mistake and corrected myself. No need to get your panties in a bunch, Mr. Wright."

"That's enough!" Hera interrupted. "Witness, elaborate on the final blow."

"Mr. Owen was shoved to the wall. He fell down and looked dazed. Then, I saw David slam the statue on the poor guy's head. I was disgusted, to say the least."

"Why didn't you help?" Phoenix pressed. "A man was in danger and you didn't intrude, or get help, or anything!"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that. I went to get my camera." Jack explained.

"C…camera!?" Phoenix choked. "Why the heck would you need a camera!?"

"To take a good picture of him in the act, of course! Incriminating evidence, you see?"

"Well!? Did you get anything?"

"Unfortunately not. As I went to grab my phone back at my seat to take a picture, that coffee lady walked by. I didn't want to blow my cover, so I had no choice but to sit back down and let them handle it."

Apollo slammed the desk and said, "I can't believe it! A man was in danger and you wanted to take a picture!? What is wrong with you!?"

Jack adjusted his tie and smiled. "Well, if you ask me, kid, somebody deserved to get hurt. You have a job like that and you deserve a little beating so you can wake up in the real world."

"What… what do you mean!?" Apollo growled, his fists clenching.

"Priests think they can get away with anything just because they're 'saved' or 'just' or whatever nonsense they tell themselves. Time for a reality-check, I say! This little 'setback' should give this church - maybe most churches – the realization that maybe they are full of it."

"Objection!" Phoenix shouted. "Your Honor! This witness is being deliberately biased and is attacking our client's character!"

The Judge nodded. "Witness, please reframe from any biased, judgmental opinions towards the defendant. That's what I'm here for."

Jack fixed his hair and blew a bubble. "Whatever."

"This is a court of law, Mr. Wright." Prosecutor Novak said to the defense. "Not a place of politically-correct, moralistic balderdash. Whoever killed Owen Miles is the bigger issue. So, witness, anything you wish to add?"

"Nope." Jack Anchor said, shaking his head.

"SORRY, I WAS JUST CONFUSED IS ALL. SO… FORGIVEN?"

"Hold it!" Phoenix cried. Before he could say anything, Hera slammed her desk with her left hand and stared at the defense attorney.

"No, Wright! That's enough! There is nothing else you can possibly ask. Now, man up and show me what you are capable of! At this rate, I'm rather unimpressed."

(…Fine, Prosecutor Novak. You want evidence, you'll get evidence!)

Apollo growled. "Mr. Wright! If I strangle this witness, will you defend me in trial!?"

"It won't have to come to that, Apollo." Phoenix assured him. "Just stay cool and listen: this witness is deliberately lying to pin the crime on David. If I can work around that, then this'll be easy picking."

Apollo sighed and turned to Phoenix. "Okay, boss! I trust you! It's just that… why do we always have to have the most despicable, incomprehensible people as witnesses?"

"Give me a minute while I try to work that out."

(Little does Jack Anchor know, he just flubbed up one major thing. Once I pull this off, I think we can safely start to put a bow on this whole charade.)

"DAVID VAUGHAN TRIED POISONING OWEN MILES WITH THE COFFEE CUP!"

"Objection!" Phoenix pointed his finger at the witness as the courtroom grew quiet in anticipation. "Mr. Jack Anchor. You may be a good news anchor. But you're a bad liar."

"E-excuse me?" Jack choked, sweating and adjusting his tie. "Where do you get off by saying lunacy like that?"

"Well… where to start?" Phoenix showed Jack Owen's shattered coffee mug. "First of all, there are no traces of coffee in this cup. What is actually in this cup… is hot cocoa."

"Hot cocoa…? But… I could've sworn I saw Mr. Vaughan fixing up some hot coffee…"

"Which brings me to my next point." Phoenix continued, reading off a piece of paper. "This cup of cocoa was made by a Miss Maria Cupp, the church's coffee maker."

"Im… impossible!"

"Thirdly… and most important of all…" Phoenix announced, "there were zero traces of any poison whatsoever."

Jack's hair began to droop down, his back hunched over. "I… I don't understand…"

"Mr. Anchor, in my years as a defense attorney, I have hardly met a witness make so many contradictions in one little statement. Therefore," Phoenix Wright then slammed his hands on his desk and shouted, "YOU ARE AN ASININE WITNESS TO THIS CASE!"

Jack screamed, choking on his gum and swallowing it. "L-look what you did! You made me swallow my gum! Do you have any idea what that does to your digestive system!?"

"I don't care, witness. I just want to ask one thing: are you, or are you not, lying to get my client arrested?"

"What!? NO! Of course not! I have more important matters to attend to other than, you know, getting some pathetic priest guy arrested! You know me!" Jack shouted, inserting another piece of gum into his mouth and began chewing. "Besides, who cares about some stupid cup? I know what I saw. I definitely saw SOMEONE throwing a cup."

(He has a point. If I can show who shattered the cup, maybe we can move on from there?)

"Well, Mr. Wright?" Questioned His Honor. "Who do you think it was that shattered this cup?"

"Take that!" The attorney presented Owen Miles' profile to the court.

"The victim!?" Hera exclaimed, lunging back. "But…"

"Take note that the pieces of the cup is in front of the desk. If David was the one that threw the cup, the pieces would be BEHIND Mr. Miles, ergo behind the desk. However, what if we thought it wrong? What if the victim himself used the cup in defense?"

"I… I call objection, Wright-O!" Jack weakly yelled, sweating bullets. "I could have sworn the cup was thrown at SOMEONE!"

Phoenix shook his head in disagreement. "Once again, I think we've been getting everything wrong here. What if the cup was shattered differently?"

"Wh-wh-what!?" Jack yelled, once again swallowing his gum in a panic. "H-how else could it have been broken!?"

"That's easy." Phoenix said with a smile. "The answer is-!"

THE CUP WAS SMASHED UP-CLOSE

THE CUP WAS ACTUALLY THROWN

THE CUP FELL

Phoenix slammed his desk and exclaimed, "The victim used the cup to hit the killer, head-on!"

"NOOO!" Jack screamed, with several trophies falling out of his suit's sleeves. "Th-that can't happen!"

"But you can't say it's impossible! I mean, what if!?"

"Objection!" Hera roared. "'What if'!? You're basing this on a 'what if'!? You're going to need to do better than that, Wright! Show us evidence that proves the victim used this cup in defense."

"Take that!" Shouted Phoenix, presenting the Crime Scene Photo to the prosecution.

"The crime scene photo?" Hera chuckled. "Ridiculous. Point out to us what about this photo proves the cup was used by the victim?"

Phoenix carefully pointed out the subject of the picture: the broken cup, of course. "Notice how all the pieces are far apart. If it was thrown, the pieces would reasonably be pretty close together. However, in such a wide room, if the cup was smashed with such quick, slim impact…"

"I suppose that makes sense." The Judge commented. "But what does all this have to do with the murder? Honestly."

"Your Honor, when a mug of glass hits your face, the likely result will be some bleeding around the facial area, or alternatively, some scars. If Mr. Owen Miles used this glass in his defense against David Vaughan, tell me: why are there no signs of an attack on David?"

Jack, sweating, tried to adjust his tie as Hera yelled, "Objection! Foolishness! David easily could have used his hand to defend himself from the cup, explaining the cuts on his hand!"

"That's true!" Jack commented, his face lightening up. "He could have done that, indeed!"

"Objection! But if that's the case, then that contradicts what we've been discussing this whole time!" Phoenix retorted. "Here is the evidence proving how that claim is impossible! Take that!" Phoenix revealed the bloody glass. "All this time, we've been claiming this glass is the reason why David Vaughan was cut! Now we're saying the cup is to blame? Well, Ms. Novak? Which is it!?"

Hera broke into a sweat, her teeth gritting. All of a sudden, she lunged back, groaning.

The gallery began to whisper to each other until the Judge slammed his mighty gavel, silencing the court. "ORDER! I DEMAND ORDER! Mr. Wright, if what you say is true, then… then… the defense could not have used this cup! Or for that matter, been attacked by the cup at all!"

"That's right, Your Honor." Phoenix said to him. "You could argue that David, or whoever, could have simply dodged the cup if it was thrown. But there are two things that make that unlikely. First, considering how close the two were, it would have been impossible to have missed the cup. Secondly, we would just be back at square-one with the separation of the shard. Whatever way you look at it, I'm afraid that theory is simply out of the question."

"I can't believe it…" Jack groaned, his body hunched over the stand. "I, the great Jack Anchor… was WRONG!? I, Jack Anchor, award-winning, prestigious news anchor… was made for a fool!?"

Phoenix nodded, then said, "Jack Anchor…" Phoenix stretched out his arm at the witness and cried, "I dare you to add your defeat to your memoir!"

The court grew quiet. Jack continued sweating. All of a sudden, Jack screamed and held his hands up to his head, several copies of his memoir and a bunch of golden trophies flying out of his suit.

His Honor slammed his gavel and announced, "Well, what a twist that was, I must say. To think that little cup could hold so many answers, such as the defendant's inability to be attacked by the cup, and to the obvious inaccuracy of this witness. However, there are still a bunch of unanswered questions. The court now thinks it is time to dismiss today's trial and continue first-thing tomorrow morning. Any objections?"

Phoenix shook his head. "Not from me, Your Honor. Thank you."

Hera just stared at Mr. Wright, sweating and teeth gritting. "N-no, Your Honor! Not yet! I-I have one more witness! Can I just-!?"

The Judge shook his head and said, "Sorry, Prosecutor Novak. Whatever witness you have must wait until tomorrow, I'm afraid."

Hera was quiet for a moment. "Hmph. Fine then. It's not over, Wright. It's far from over."

"Now then," The Judge announced, "this ends today's proceeding. Court is now adjourned!"

The Judge slammed his gavel as everybody got up to leave.

"Hold it!"

Everybody froze and set their eyes at the man at the witness stand: Jack Anchor. He was standing tall and confident. He was fixing his tie and brushed his hair with his hand. He, then, put another piece of gum in his mouth.

"Mmmm… this delicate gum. Minty and fresh. Just like your argument, Wright."

Mr. Wright stared at the anchor, shocked. (What does he want now?)

"I'll admit. You make a strong case. But, like most gum, arguments like yours can only last for so long before they run dry and become bitter. Hate to break it to you, bud, but I have one more piece of something I think you'd all like to see." Jack held up an envelope and waved it around tauntingly.

"Wh… WHAT!?" Phoenix screamed.

"Witness!" Hera growled. "What are you playing at!?"

"E-evidence!?" His Honor yelled. "Well, I think we'd all like to see this evidence you have!"

"Sure thing, gramps. But on one condition." Jack proposed. "I ask to testify one more time. If Phoenix Wright over there can somehow prove me wrong once more, I will gladly show you all this evidence here. How does that sound?"

"I… I don't think I approve of this at all!" The Judge scolded.

"Well, Mr. Wright?" Jack taunted. "Do we have a deal or not?"

Phoenix stared at the witness, then nodded. "You have a deal. Please give us one more testimony, Mr. Anchor."

"Mr. Wright?" The Judge responded. "What are you-?"

"Quiet, Your Honor." Hera ordered the Judge. "I'd like to listen to what these two degenerates have to say. I accept this final testimony."

"But… but…!" The Judge considered the situation, then sighed. "Fine. I will allow just one more testimony from this witness. Witness, please give a TRUTHFUL testimony. No more funny stuff!"

Jack chuckled, his teeth shiny as the sun. "Of course! Ready to see why they call me 'Jack Anchor the Raconteur'!"

COURT RECORD

-Attorney Badge: My personal badge proving my profession. I never leave home without it.

-Owen's Autopsy Report: Cause of death was an instant kill by a David statue to the victim's head. Time of Death: About 8:00-8:30 PM. Victim is covered in bruises.

-Body Outline: The aftermath of the crime. Blood is splattered around the head and facial area. The statue sits to its left.

-David Statue: Depiction of Michelangelo's David statue. The murder weapon.

-Shattered Coffee Mug: A cup that was likely to have been shattered during the fight between Owen and the killer. Owen probably used this cup against said killer in defense. Was made by Maria Cupp for an ill Owen.

-Jar of Blood: A jar of blood found in Owen's office. Why he would have a jar of blood is the question.

-Child's Drawing: A drawing showing Owen, David, and an unknown woman. A bloody smear is on the side because of me.

-Bloody Print: Some kind of bloody print from a shoe on top of the dumpster. Could it be involved with the murder?

-Glass: Shards of glass littering the floor. Must have come from the broken window next to it. A shard has blood on it.

-Black Cloth: A black strip of cloth. Origin unknown.

-Crime Scene Photo: A photo taken of the crime scene. Drops of David's blood left a trail between Owen's desk in the background to the shattered window.

-Church Diagram: A detailed diagram of St. Owen's Baptist Church. The crime scene on the left side is highlighted.

-Bloody Priest Coat: David Vaughan's official priest coat. It is completely coated in Owen Mile's blood. There is also a small tear in fabric over the blood.

-Raya's Statement: "David Vaughan was covered in the victim's blood and his right hand was bleeding profusely. We had doctors patch his right hand up on the way to the Detention Center."

-What it's Like To Be an Average Jack; By Jack Anchor: "Memoir written by Jack Anchor. Includes original, award-winning chapters like, "How to Be Me" and "How to Tackle the Game of Life, Today".

PROFILES

-Apollo Justice: A strong, but loud and persistent, attorney who works with me at the agency. Is friends with the defendant.

-Athena Cykes: A gifted attorney that can read people's emotions though their hearts.

-David Vaughan: The suspect of the crime. A priest at the church where the murder took place.

-Jack Anchor: A prestigious news anchor who prides himself a bit too much. Witnessed the murderer.

-Raya Novak: A no-nonsense detective in charge of the investigation. Only been working for a few short months.

-Phineas Filch: A tricky thief that was a witness to a crime a long time ago and is now a janitor at the church.

-Damien Hope: A happy-go-lucky priest that was Owen's apprentice. An overall loving, trusting guy.

-Maria Cupp: The kind, eccentric coffee-lady that works at the church. Called the police.

-Hera Novak: The prosecutor of the case and sister to the detective. This is her very first trial, but showcases great skill.