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| Maximum security | |
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| Available evidence | Knight's Autopsy Report Chisel Mr. Kanis's bells |
| Locations in prison (Los Angeles) | |
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Maximum security is a very large prison cell inhabited by Bodhidharma Kanis, an assassin who wielded a knife with a custom-made bell attached to it. It is among the many special privileges granted to him. The cell contained, among other things, a Buddha shrine, a fancy doghouse, and a bed.
Prison privileges[]
Kanis's special treatment was due to his threats against prison warden Fifi Laguarde and her family, telling her that he had henchmen outside doing his bidding. To meet his demands, she gave him a large prison cell and five chisels. She also arranged to have various goods smuggled to Kanis every week for the benefit of the other prisoners. Kanis's dog Helmut would deliver the smuggled goods to the special cell. This earned Kanis the nickname "the fixer".
Kanis took up wood carving using his chisels and played correspondence chess with Simeon Saint, an associate from outside. Saint performed in a circus animal show for the prison every month, but since Kanis was barred from attending the shows, he would never get to see and recognize him. Laguarde would regularly summon the assassin to her office and interrogate him, but no matter what she did, she could not gain any more information out of him that could free her from his coercion. This built tension between the two that would lead her to take drastic measures.
A murderous delivery[]
In March 2019, Kanis was in for a shock when Helmut delivered to him the dead body of Bronco Knight, a friend of Saint's who had been arrested and detained in the detention center two days prior. A small chisel was stuck in the victim's neck, and attached to it was the bell from the knife that Kanis had used to carry out his hits. Realizing that someone was trying to frame him, the assassin ordered his dog to take the body to Workshop A and take out the apparent murder weapon there. The body was soon discovered, and the Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence placed Verity Gavèlle and Eustace Winner in charge of the ensuing investigation. They searched the entire prison for the murder weapon, but Kanis was able to have Helmut hide the chisel inside his mouth.
The next day, Kanis received a visit from Miles Edgeworth, the prosecutor who had convicted him and was in charge of Knight's case. The two discussed the case at hand, with Edgeworth learning that the charges against Knight had been altered without his knowledge. This was Edgeworth's first hint that the Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence was doing more than simply meddling in his affairs. Later, while Kanis was being interrogated again, Edgeworth visited the cell in his attempt to determine how the victim's body had gone from the detention center to the prison. The police dog Missile was momentarily distracted by the smell of chocolate cake inside the special cell, and eagerly gobbled it up before following the scent of the body back outside.
Kanis later returned to his cell only to be questioned again by Gavèlle, Winner, and later Edgeworth, who believed that the prisoner had killed the victim using one of his chisels. The prosecutor had video footage seemingly showing someone being attacked by a dark-colored animal, and accused the assassin of using Helmut to bring Knight to him. Edgeworth had a memo of the chess game that Kanis was playing with Saint, but to Kanis' surprise, the memo belonged to Knight. Kanis insisted that it was just an astronomical coincidence, but Edgeworth pressed on and found the chisel inside Helmut's mouth. Nonetheless, Kanis was vindicated when a fingerprint test showed only Knight's prints on the supposed murder weapon.
It turned out that the man in the footage was Rocco Carcerato, an inmate who had escaped from his cell, and the animal was Teddy, his pet polar bear cub, covered in mud packs. When Laguarde entered the special cell, Teddy again leaped onto one of her bodyguards, revealing him to be Carcerato in disguise. Through grilling Carcerato on his escape plans, Edgeworth learned that the body had been transported through a tunnel connected to a well in the prison yard. Edgeworth would go on to catch the real killer, Laguarde, who had killed Knight using Kanis' knife due to mounting paranoia of him being one of the assassin's henchmen.
Temporary escape[]
Five days after Laguarde's arrest, Kanis decided to escape from prison to look for Saint. Another assassin, Shelly de Killer, visited the cell to talk to Kanis about Saint, only to find it empty. It was eventually revealed that Saint had instigated Knight's murder through actions convincing Laguarde that Knight was working for Kanis even though they did not know each other. Saint had given the small chisel to Knight inside a chessboard during a visit, and had gotten Knight and Kanis to play chess against each other, with each believing that Saint was his opponent. Saint was eventually caught and arrested, and Kanis returned to prison with his new prison buddy.