The first day of the trial of Solomon Starbuck for the murder of Clay Terran occurred on December 16, 2027. The case was very significant, both for defense team lead Apollo Justice, the victim's best friend from middle school, and for prosecutor Simon Blackquill, who saw a chance to expose the true culprit responsible for the UR-1 Incident, for which Blackquill was due to be executed in less than a week.
Preliminaries[]
- 9:12 a.m.
Justice was waiting in the defendant lobby, his nervousness causing him to eat a lotus root given by Juniper Woods raw without thinking. Starbuck, one of the two astronauts who had been on the aborted HAT-2 mission, was accused of killing Terran, the other would-be passenger. Justice tried his best to cheer Starbuck up, even though he had not had a proper opportunity to investigate the Cosmos Space Center, the scene of the crime.
- 9:55 a.m.
As the trial began, the judge noticed a strange tension coming from both benches. Justice was wearing an eye bandage, but did not want to discuss it. Blackquill broke his shackles immediately and gave his opening statement. The Cosmos Space Center had planned to launch a rocket on December 15, but two bombs had detonated at 9:28 a.m. Starbuck was on trial for both the bombing and the subsequent stabbing death of Clay Terran. The prosecution had also brought a large case, but Blackquill would not explain what it was just yet.
Photo of Terran's body.
Blackquill called in Bobby Fulbright, who submitted diagrams of the Cosmos Space Center, the utility knife used to kill Terran, a report of the bombing, and a photo of the victim. One bomb had gone off on the second floor of the main building, while the other bomb had gone off on the rocket itself. Fulbright had apparently removed Terran's right glove and helmet himself to identify him and lift his fingerprints. Also in the photo was a capsule that supposedly carried asteroid samples, though it seemed irrelevant to the case at hand. Justice's only chance to gather information was to press Fulbright on every detail of his testimony.
A cross-section diagram of the Cosmos Space Center.
When asked how powerful the explosions were, the detective explained that the one in the main building was weak, but the one on the rocket had covered the entirety of Launch Pad 1 in smoke and flames. Fulbright also mentioned that he had taken part in the subsequent evacuation. Justice wondered what Fulbright had been doing there, but he decided that he would get nowhere on that line of questioning. Fulbright went on to describe the evacuation itself. The power to the elevators and the third floor lounge had gone out, but the security cameras had backup power and the police had managed to get everyone into the emergency shelter.
As for motive, Starbuck had astrophobia from the HAT-1 mission seven years prior, where various life-threatening problems had arisen. He had been taking anti-anxiety tablets to deal with his fear of space. Supposedly, his desperation to abort the mission had caused him to commit his alleged actions so as to abort the mission while preserving his reputation. Fulbright also testified that only the two astronauts had been in the launch pad at the time of the bombing, and that the door to the launch pad operated using a fingerprint scanner, narrowing down the list of possible suspects. The director, Yuri Cosmos, was the only other person with access to the launch pad, but he had been in the control room.
Starbuck and Terran escaping from the launch pad.
Fulbright went on to testify about the rescue. Justice figured out the prosecution's argument: the defendant had killed Terran in the rocket and carried him as if it were a rescue. Justice also learned that Cosmos and Detective Candice Arme had been the first on the scene. Blackquill then submitted security camera footage of the two astronauts escaping to Boarding Lounge 1 on the third floor, which seemed to corroborate the prosecution's argument about the fake rescue. Justice asked how anyone could tell that it was anything other than a genuine rescue, but he could not form a solid argument against the prosecution's assertions.
Justice wondered why the defendant would have bothered to bring the victim back to the boarding lounge. Blackquill simply retorted that it had all been part of the act, with the intent of getting the "rescue" on camera. Blackquill then revealed that the large case was a bomb transport case, which carried a third bomb disguised as a Phony Phanty toy intended for the boarding lounge, which Arme had disarmed. Blackquill also revealed that a remote detonator switch had been found in Starbuck's pocket. As the prosecution summoned Starbuck himself to the stand, Justice realized that Blackquill was intentionally leading him on to break his faith in his client.
"Cross-Examining Starbuck"[]
Starbuck seemed very depressed as he testified about his rescue attempt. Justice found it odd that he claimed to have used the launch pad elevator, when it had been consumed by the flames. Starbuck said that he had been mistaken, but he also mentioned that he had carried both Terran and the capsule of asteroid samples with him. However, this explanation made his escape impossible, since his only way down from the rocket was a ladder. Blackquill explained that traces of the anti-anxiety pills had been found in Starbuck's system. Starbuck could not get his story straight because he could not remember what had happened in his drug-induced state.
Blackquill continued that, if Terran had already died, then Starbuck could just drop the body before climbing down the ladder with the capsule. He asserted that the spacesuit had protected the body from trauma, but the oxygen tank had ruptured. Justice argued that if the spacesuit could prevent bruises from fall trauma, a knife would not have been able to penetrate it, but Blackquill countered that only an astronaut would have the knowledge of the suit's vulnerabilities and allow him to kill another astronaut by stabbing. All of this information cemented Starbuck was the only plausible suspect.
Attempting to seal the deal, Blackquill submitted a report that had been done on both oxygen tanks. He said that the facts were irrefutable, and he began to convince Starbuck to accept his fate. However, Justice told Starbuck that Terran would always talk about how he would never give up his dreams, no matter what. This helped Starbuck snap out of his defeatist state.
Justice then looked at the report and realized that there was a contradiction. In the video footage, the astronaut performing the rescue had 50% left in his oxygen tank. However, the report on the oxygen tanks stated that Starbuck's tank had 80% remaining. The apparent increase in oxygen was implausible, so Justice provided an alternative explanation: Terran was the one who had carried Starbuck and the capsule to safety. Even if the ladder situation had not been resolved, Terran had clearly been alive up to this point. Justice called the testimonies of Detective Arme and Director Cosmos into question, and so the judge prepared to have Arme take the stand.
Suddenly, Ted Tonate, the bomb squad officer in charge of the bomb transport case, alerted the court that the bomb in the Phony Phanty had somehow been reactivated. The gallery erupted into a panic and almost everyone ran for their lives. Justice did not want to stop the trial, but Athena Cykes grabbed him and made a run for it. The two ran into Woods, who tripped. Justice ran back to her just as the bomb exploded.