Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney/Episode 5: Rise from the Ashes/Day 3 - Trial Former

This is a very confusing case indeed. The same person was killed in two places at the same time. In the Defendant's Lobby, Lana will tell you that despite a long questioning, the police are entirely clueless, and even Lana is in the dark. You tell her she needs to accuse Jake Marshall, since you found his bloody fingerprints in the Evidence Room, but Lana is noncommittal.

Edgeworth states that it takes 30 minutes to get from the Police Station to the Prosecutor's Office, and yet Goodman disappeared from the former and was found at the latter doing both at 5:15 PM. Edgeworth promises to bring accurate evidence to court. He calls Mike Meekins to the stand.

Meekins promptly admits to the crime. However, Edgeworth still demands that Meekins give the report about the murder.

Crime Report, Sir!: Cross-examination
Press all of Meekins' statements. Meekins was assigned to the Blue Badger (the dancing contraption in front of the Police Department) to make sure it wasn't broken during the evidence transferals. After the award ceremony (where Edgeworth got his Prosecutor Trophy) there were a lot of people running around, so Meekins put it in the Evidence Room. Meekins needed an ID Card to enter the Evidence Room, and he reveals his ID number, 4989596.

If you look carefully, the number was used twice; 25 minutes before the crime, and around the same time as Goodman! The first time was for relocating the Blue Badger to the Evidence Room, and the second time was to get it back. It was during this second trip that he spotted the suspicious man on the security screen. The ID Card Record will be updated in the Court Record.

When Meekins saw the knife, he began wildly swinging his arms and cut his hand in the process, before finally grabbing the man by the collar. Meekins eventually got the knife from the man, whose white coat was drenched with Meekins' blood. But then he punched Meekins right in the face. Meekins was slapped awake at 5:30 PM. Afterward he went to finish his deed, and put the Blue Badger back in its place in front of the Department.

The judge believes he has heard an accurate testimony, but one thing remains unclear, was the man murdered at the Police Department really Goodman? Meekins then presents a video tape of the murder sent in by Chief Gant. This comes as a surprise to Edgeworth, who was told that the tape had been mistakenly erased. You then see the tape.

Here is the description of the tape. The camera pans left and right:


 * Right view 1: Nothing interesting here, except the Blue Badger.
 * Left view 1: Goodman walks by.
 * Right view 2: Goodman opens his locker.
 * Left view 2: Meekins sneaks up on Goodman.
 * Right view 3: Goodman spins around, slashing Meekin's hand. They begin fighting each other.
 * Left view 3: The fight continues as the camera faces away from them.
 * Right view 4: Meekins is knocked out, slumped against the wall and Goodman is nowhere to be seen.
 * Left view 4: Nothing interesting here, maybe.

As you can see in everyone's faces, while it proves Meekins did encounter someone and there was some activity, the tape doesn't show the man's face or what happened. Edgeworth tells Meekins to describe the man. The Security Video is added to the Court Record.

Mystery Man: Cross-examination
Press Meekins' fifth statement. Edgeworth asks if there is a problem with the video tape. Say "There's a problem." You then examine the tape.


 * Right view 1: Look at Goodman's locker. It's lit up! Present it. If the locker was lit, that means it was open. Goodman's locker was lit, so it was already opened. The judge wants you to show why. You examine the tape again.


 * Right view 2: If you look closely at Goodman's locker as it opens, you see something fall out. Pause at the right time and present it. When the locker was closed, the the object might have been stuck between the door and the sensor.

The judge wants you to present the thin insulator. Present the Rubber Glove. It says "SL-9 Incident" on it, meaning that it belonged inside a lock. With it being outside, that means it must have fallen out of one of them. With this Glove, anyone could have opened the locker. Edgeworth isn't willing to give in, and has Meekins testify more about the tape.

Meekins' Testimony: Mystery Man (2)
Edgeworth even has the ID Card Record to prove that Goodman's ID was used. The judge wonder why, since there should have been hundreds of transferals scheduled, there were so few people on the ID Card Record. Edgeworth tells him that this specific Evidence Room (Sector Three) only stores evidence for certain special cases - only extremely violent ones involving the police staff. There were only a few cases scheduled for transferals, and the other ones were mostly cleared up by noon. The judge is satisfied, so you begin the cross-examination.

Mystery Man (2): Cross-examination
On Meekins' fourth statement, present Goodman's Lost Item Report. Goodman had lost something important to him that day - likely his ID Card. Phoenix presents the case that the man that Meekins encountered was not Goodman, but rather the man that stole Goodman's ID Card. Edgeworth then makes a conclusion: if the man on the Security Video is a fake, then the murder in the Evidence Room is also a fake! If the murder didn't occur at the Police Department, then that means it must have happened at the Underground Parking Lot. This make Lana Skye the prime suspect once again.

Object to this. While the camera doesn't show the moment of the murder, it is still related to the case. Time to call someone to the stand. When asked who, choose Jake Marshall. Edgeworth agrees to your request, and calls him to the stand. The judge calls a 30 minute recess while they go get Marshall and the prosecution prepares.

Recess
Lana tells Phoenix that Marshall knows something. Lana seems to know something about the case herself, but doesn't want to talk about it, even to her sister. Why? Gumshoe then comes in to bring files from the SL-9 Incident, at Lana's request. It is also revealed that Lana was a witness on that case. The SL-9 Incident Files will be added to the Court Record. In there, you see a list of people involved in the case known as the "Joe Darke Killings," and one of them is Ema, who runs off crying after seeing it. Gumshoe leaves too, and Lana wishes you the best of luck.

Back in court, Ema hasn't come back, so you won't have any help this time. Edgeworth calls Jake Marshall to the stand. He testifies about the day of the crime.

Marshall's Testimony: Day of the Crime
Two security systems? Marshall is talking about the security camera, and the ID card reader. He doesn't know about the fingerprint locks on the evidence lockers though.

Day of the Crime: Cross-examination
It's finally time to use that trump card. Present Marshall's Prints on his fourth statement. If Marshall wasn't at the department, why were Marshall's bloody fingerprints on one of the lockers? Marshall denies it, but Edgeworth has him testify about the fingerprints.

Bloodstained Fingerprints: Cross-examination
Press Marshall's first statement. Marshall tells you that it was his locker the handprint was on, so it wouldn't be a surprise that Marshall's fingerprints were on it. Marshall's Prints will be updated in the Court Record.

The murderer was wearing gloves? Press Marshall's fifth statement. How does he know about that? Edgeworth states that they tried the prints on Gumshoe's locker and determined that the murderer was wearing gloves. Marshall refers to the Security Video, and says if you can't prove he's in there, you've got nothing on him. Marshall adds this to his testimony.
 * "Too bad it wasn't me in that video, right, pardner?"

Press on that statement. The camera was moving back and forth and it doesn't show the floor, so if someone was familiar with the movement, he could have found a way to leave the room without getting caught. The judge wants to know if you have any proof. Choose "Show evidence," and you'll examine the tape.


 * Left view 4: Look at Jake's locker. There is a piece of cloth sticking out. If you rewind it, you'll see it wasn't there before.

Present the piece sticking out of his locker to the court. If that locker can only be opened by Marshall, then only he could have put the cloth in there, thus proving that the Goodman in this video was indeed Marshall. Marshall is the only one in the courtroom that doesn't know about the fingerprint sensor on the lockers, so he asks for proof.

Present the Evidence Locker, and Marshall will freak, as he didn't know they'd installed the device in the new lockers.

The judge wants Marshall to explain what he was doing in the Evidence Room but he's unresponsive, so Phoenix decides he can figure it out himself. The judge asks you to show where Marshall was. You examine the Evidence Room Floorplans. Present the victim's spot. This is where Goodman was supposed to have been, but recall Meekins' story: if he asked Goodman for his ID card, why didn't he just show it, rather than have his knife out? Because if Marshall did show Goodman's ID, his cover would have been blown.

Marshall is still not giving up as all your evidence is circumstantial; you don't have any solid proof. Luckily Edgeworth gives you some advice from his early career: return to the basics. Instead of finding evidence that Marshall was in disguise, find evidence that came about because he was in disguise. The tape should answer your questions, so you look at the tape once more.


 * Right view 3: Pause just as Goodman (if he is Goodman) lunges at Meekins. There's blood on his shoulder, lot's of it!

Present this to the court. There was lot's of blood on it, so it would be too obvious that he fought Meekins. He had to hide it, and that hiding spot must have been his own locker.

Marshall says, "Are you happy now Edgeworth?" for two years ago. If he had been as persistent in the SL-9 case, none of this would have happened. Marshall then give his confession in the next testimony.

Marshall's Testimony: Marshall's Confession
No murder? Then why was there large amounts of blood on the floor? Marshall says Meekins was the donor, since he cut his hand - but wouldn't that create not nearly enough blood?

Marshall's Confession: Cross-examination
Press all of Marshall's statements.


 * First statement: He couldn't just let the SL-9 Incident die, he wanted to go through the evidence from the case before it was lost forever in the transferal. Only the lead detective has access to a dead case's files, so he needed Goodman's ID and his disguise to get them.
 * Second statement: If he didn't make it look like Goodman was taking out the transferal, he would have been caught stealing. He admits to stealing Goodman's ID that morning, then leaving it at the Underground Parking Lot to be found later. It was pure luck that the Rubber Glove jammed the fingerprint sensor, or Marshall couldn't have gotten the locker open. But that means that Goodman himself had opened it previously.
 * Third statement: Marshall expected to be there for about five minutes, but he didn't expect Meekins to be in the room. Marshall is still holding the knife he used to cut Meekins' hand.
 * Fourth statement:' He couldn't leave the Evidence Room covered in blood, so he stashed the coat in his locker on the way out.
 * Fifth statement: When Marshall opened Goodman's locker, the evidence was already gone. According to Edgeworth, it hasn't been found yet.

Phoenix asks Marshall why he went through such lengths trying to get the evidence (i.e. stealing a detective's ID, injuring a police officer, etc.). Marshall is prepared to do anything it takes to get satisfactory evidence on the SL-9 Incident. He adds this statement to his testimony.
 * "I can't just forget the SL-9 Incident... You know why?"

Press on that statement. Though the serial killings of "Joe Darke" were solved two years ago, Marshall still feels that something wasn't right. There may a reason he's not talking about to explain his zeal towards the case. Present the SL-9 Incident Files on his latest statement. On the victim list, there is the name of another Marshall, "Neil Marshall." Jake Marshall says Neil was his brother and a prosecutor, just like Edgeworth. He was the one that handled the case, and after he was killed, Edgeworth took over.

Neil and Damon Gant led the investigation of the SL-9 case, and the other detectives all worked under them. They were desperate to prosecute the killer. Eventually Neil fought Darke, but was killed. That was the only evidence Darke had ever left behind, and they used it to get the Guildy verdict. Marshall knew no one could beat his brother in a fight, so he knows there's more to the story than what is found in the public records. On the last before the SL-9 evidence was transferred, Marshall stole an ID, intended to steal evidence, and ended up assaulting a police officer.

The good news is, now you know what happened at the Police Department. The bad news is, this also makes Lana, your client, the primary suspect again. Seeing Lana as the only person who could have committed the crime, the judge begins to declare a verdict, but is stopped.

It's Ema! Ema wants the judge to hear you out. After finding out the Joe Darke Killings that she'd been involved was the same case as SL-9, Ema went to the Evidence Room to recheck the handprint on Gumshoe's locker, but she found nothing again. She leaves you to do the talking, but you have nothing. The judge asks you if there is something not right with the handprint. Say "I object!" Something might not have been drawn in the Evidence Room Floorplans. If it wasn't, then the handprint may change the case. If asked what could have been drawn on there, present the Blue Badger Panel. The Blue Badger was dancing at the time the fight took place, and it would've been impossible to place a handprint on Gumshoe's locker, because the Blue Badger was right in front of it.

Ema comes back with a solution. If the print wasn't there during the fight, it must have been put there before the fight happened. Thus, blood was spilled at the Evidence Room twice! So, something might have happened in there before the commotion was caught on tape. However, you need proof, so when you get the chance, Present the ID Card Record. If the murder took place before the fight, it would be either 4:20 PM or 4:40 PM. But it would've been impossible for Edgeworth to clean up the act before Meekins brought the Blue Badger up, so the only remaining number is "7777777." If Goodman lost his ID card that day, then he must have walked in with the real murderer. The judge asks Edgeworth to find out who the owner of this number is. However, Edgeworth can't, as he doesn't have the authority to look up someone as higher than a captain, unless he or she is charged with a crime.

Because of that, Marshall mocks Edgeworth with his cover-ups and forgeries and says, "That's how the Prosecutor's Office operates!" Edgeworth wants Marshall to keep his slander to himself. Marshall then asks a question of Lana, "In that trial two years ago... did you really use legitimate evidence!?" Lana says when she became a prosecutor, she thought she could use the law to suppress crime, but it turned out that the law only made it harder to put criminals away.

Lana then answers Marshall's question to Edgeworth, "Drastic crimes require drastic measures... That's just the way it is. We did what we had to... in order to get the verdict he deserved. Even if it involved 'forging' evidence."

Lana's last bit leaves the court in such a ruckus, that the judge is forced to adjourn court for the day.