- 9:48 AM
Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright met Vera Misham at Defendant Lobby No. 6 and finally got her to talk. Instead of expressing her gratitude on her face, Vera drew a smiling face on her notepad before beginning to paint her nails again. Justice pondered about Drew Misham and his life of crime.
First session
- 10:00 AM
Courtroom No. 3 commenced the trial. The nervous judge managed a speech about the repercussions of this trial on the legal system, as this was the test trial for the Jurist System. It was hoped that this system would better reflect the will of the people. The jury would watch from a different room through three closed-circuit cameras, and base their decisions, not just on the letter of the law, or on hard evidence, but also on their feelings and common sense.
Prosecutor Klavier Gavin opened with the details of the case, with Justice adding that only the mug, not the coffee, had apparently been poisoned. Gavin submitted Misham's Autopsy Report and then called his witness, Spark Brushel, who had seen the murder: "a simple witness, for a simple case." Brushel had started the interview around 9:00. Vera had served Drew coffee, and then Drew had died. No one else had been in Drew Studio. When asked about the victim's coffee, Brushel stated that Drew had taken a mere sip of the coffee and then died immediately. However, this did not make sense with the slow-acting nature of atroquinine. Gavin realized that this would not be a simple case after all, not with Phoenix Wright in charge.
Brushel testified that he had seen Drew writing a letter prior to the interview. After some prodding, Brushel elaborated that he had entered the home 15 minutes early, and that Drew had hastily sealed his letter inside a yellow envelope, which he guessed was still at the crime scene. Justice remarked that only a red envelope had been found at the crime scene, and that the envelope was postmarked seven years previously and had been sent to Drew, not from him. Brushel explained that Drew had looked for a postage stamp to stick onto the envelope and then had fed it to his Letter Box.
The judge read the contents of the red envelope, and then asked about how Brushel had come around to interviewing Drew in the first place. Brushel replied that he had blackmailed Drew using the story of a case from seven years ago. When he mentioned "Drew's talent", Justice noticed, with the help of his bracelet, that Brushel's armpits began to sweat. Justice pounced on this development; Drew's "talent" was the ability to make forgeries. Brushel admitted to Drew's forgeries, adding that the payment mentioned in the envelope had been for forged evidence.
Gavin complained that there was no evidence that Drew had been in contact with criminals, and the envelope had nothing to do with the case. Justice replied that Drew had licked a postage stamp to send his letter. The stamp had been poisoned, and then Drew, already poisoned, had transferred some of the poison onto his coffee mug. However, no stamps had been found at the crime scene, and Brushel did not remember Drew actually finding a stamp. Justice then pointed out the tiny picture frame that was at the crime scene. The stamp had been inside that frame, and the frame had traces of atroquinine on it. The stamp was the perfect weapon to kill a recluse who relied on mail to communicate with the outside world. The red envelope had carried the stamp; the sender had instructed Drew to use the enclosed stamp in his reply.
Gavin could not believe that such a coincidence could be true, and asked for proof that the poisoned stamp had been in the red envelope. Ema Skye offered her atroquinine detection spray to solve Gavin's conundrum. Indeed, atroquinine residue was found on the letter. Gavin asked why this murder hadn't happened seven years before, and Skye concluded that Drew had figured out that the stamp had been poisoned. Gavin disagreed, wondering why Drew would fall for the trap now, when he had not seven years prior.
Justice concluded that one of the clues the court had collected was a fake: Drew Misham. Drew's actions did not make sense; he was not the real forger. The real forger was Vera Misham. She was immediately summoned to the witness stand. Staring at Gavin intently, she confirmed that she was the real forger. The court went into an uproar, and a ten-minute recess was issued.
Second session
- 1:24 PM
During recess, Justice asked about Vera's forgeries. Vera had loved painting ever since she was a child. One day, Drew had found her talent in making perfect copies of any object given the right materials. Eventually, at the age of 12, she had started to make forgeries. She had little understanding of the morality of her actions, having known little of the outside world. As the bailiff signaled the end of recess, Trucy hurriedly asked Vera about the sketches of Justice's cases. Vera replied that Drew had known of the Wright & Co. Law Offices, and that he had taken interest in Justice when Wright & Co. resumed the legal business.
Court reconvened. Vera was on the witness stand, and Justice noticed that she was biting her nails nervously and staring at Gavin again. Vera testified that the red envelope was from her first work that was not a painting. Drew had handled the deal, and Vera had taken the stamp that had come with the letter. Soon after that, the Mishams had moved to their current location to avoid suspicion. Justice pressed Vera on most of her testimony, going into more detail on her life as a forger. Vera was able to copy signatures, fingerprints, and even entire letters. Drew would be the face that was shown to would-be clients, supplying them with the fake evidence they needed. Vera had taken the stamp because it was a beautiful commemorative stamp depicting her favorite magicians. She had never known about the poison. Justice knew that Vera was talking about Troupe Gramarye.
Gavin suddenly began to lose his cool. He demanded that Vera tell him exactly what the first piece of evidence she forged was, and then tried to calm down. Rattled, Vera answered that she had forged a diary. Gavin lost his cool again, and asked whether there was a silk hat on the diary. Justice objected to Gavin's outbursts. Gavin turned on Justice and asked whether Phoenix had ever told Justice about his final trial, seven years ago, telling him that the cause of his disbarment was a fake diary.
Justice was now as desperate as Gavin was. He asked Vera who the client for the diary was. Vera continued to chew her nails, and then replied that she had only met the client once. Staring at Gavin again, Vera said that she remembered the client clearly, but as she tried to reveal the client's identity, she began to choke and then fainted. Her last words to the courtroom were "...The... De... vil..."
At the hospital, Vera was diagnosed with acute atroquinine poisoning, and was put into intensive care.
| ...This ends the recording of the trial for the murder of Drew Misham. Vera Misham was, during the trial, poisoned by an unknown assailant. The dosage was just under the lethal amount, sparing the defendant's life. She is currently in intensive care, and is not to be disturbed for any reason. ...A very simple case, at first glance... until it finally began to show its true colors. The long road to the truth takes us to the record of another trial. In some ways, that was the starting point of it all. And that is where we must go... to find the whole truth. |