A bloody ace was a piece of evidence in the trial of Phoenix Wright for the murder of Shadi Smith.
Falsified evidence
- Main article: Turnabout Trump
During their poker game at the Borscht Bowl Club, Smith tasked Olga Orly with planting a fifth ace in Wright's hand that would be discovered during a body search. Smith's intent with this scheme was to cause Wright to lose the game and tarnish his reputation of "never losing a game in 7 years", by making it seem that he was a cheater. However, Wright quickly found and disposed of the card, causing Smith to knock Orly out with a grape juice bottle in a fit of anger.
After leaving the room for a while, Wright returned to find Smith dead. After calling the police, Wright called Kristoph Gavin, who made a curious statement about "someone crack[ing] that flawless bone china pate," referring to Smith's baldness; Gavin should have been unaware of Smith bald head, since the victim always wore a hat. His suspicion raised, Wright put some blood on another one of the aces
Phoenix Wright gave the card to his daughter, Trucy Wright, who subsequent gave it to Apollo Justice during Phoenix's trial for Smith's murder. When Justice presented it in court and suggested the blood fell from Smith's head, Gavin declared it to be a fake, but Phoenix pointed out that only the real killer would be able to identify it as such. This helped successfully incriminate Gavin for Smith's murder and clear Wright's name, but a furious and shocked Justice punched Wright after learning that the bloody ace really was a fake.