In 2001, Jenkins was engaged to marry a man named Yanni Yogi, who was a court bailiff at the District Court. However, their life took a drastic change on December 28, while Yogi was at work. A dramatic trial had ended, and the legendary prosecutor presiding over the trial had suffered the first penalty on his record after being accused of falsifying evidence. Yogi found himself in an elevator with the case's defense attorney, Gregory Edgeworth, heading home with his young son Miles. While the three were in the elevator, an earthquake struck, cutting power to the courthouse and bringing the elevator to a halt. By the time they were rescued, Yogi and Miles were unconscious due to lack of oxygen, but alive. However, Gregory Edgeworth had died from a bullet wound. Yogi was soon accused of the crime.
In court, Yogi's attorney, Robert Hammond, argued that oxygen deprivation and stress had caused Yogi to suffer from temporary insanity. Yogi feigned brain damage to corroborate Hammond's argument, and he was acquitted. However, he soon found his life ruined by the decision, as he lost his job and social standing. Jenkins eventually committed suicide. Her memory was preserved in the name of Yogi's parrot. Yogi would continue to feign memory loss and senility in the years to come.
It wasn't until 15 years later that the true killer of Gregory Edgeworth was revealed to have been Manfred von Karma, the prosecutor who had been shamed with a penalty on that fateful day. Yogi himself was arrested for the murder of Hammond, whom he had killed as revenge with von Karma's help.
Name
"Sayuri" (サユリ) is a common feminine Japanese given name, and was likely chosen for this reason in the original Japanese version of the game.
"Polly" is a stereotypical name for a parrot, and thus it is likely that the names for both the parrot and Yogi's deceased fiancée were chosen for this reason. Using the generic name "Polly" for a parrot may have originated from Ben Jonson's 1606 comedy play Volpone, wherein many of the characters are assigned animal personas that reflect their true nature (i.e., the name of the eponymous main character is Italian for "sly fox"). Sir Politic Would-Be (also known as just "Sir Pol") and his wife are two comic relief characters in the play who try to ingratiate themselves in Venetian society by mimicking the words and behavior of Volpone and his associates, without actually understanding the meaning of what they are doing; Jonson therefore likens them to parrots.
Note
Polly Jenkins as she appears in the anime.
Although Jenkins is only mentioned in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the anime adaptation depicts her in flashbacks and in a photograph as having dark hair, brown eyes, and wearing glasses.
