Ace Attorney Case Files: Turnabout Corner (Part 2/2)

 Spoilers for Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney follow

Here is the second part of the Case File for Turnabout Corner, the second case of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.

Previously on Ace Attorney

Apollo Justice, a rookie defense attorney, wins his first case defending former lawyer Phoenix Wright, only to lose his job when his boss turns out to be the murderer. Apollo reluctantly goes to work for Phoenix, and gets his first case from Alita Tiala, wh wants him to defend her fiance Wocky Kitaki. Wocky is the son of mob boss Winfred Kitaki, who's being accused of murdering Pal Meraktis, who failed to extract a bullet from Wocky's chest six months prior..

Despite Wocky's uncooperativeness and an eyewitness account from Wesley Stickler, Apollo manages to prove that Wocky could not have shot Meraktis in the head. Now, Apollo must uncover the true culprit, as well as the truth behind the failed operation.

Investigation Day 2

Apollo is less than thrilled with how he made it through the first trial day by the skin of his teeth, while Trucy is more optimistic. Apollo converses with Alita and finds that the Kitakis are trying to go legitimate, which upsets wannabe gangster Wocky. Wocky and Alita are also set to marry next month.

Apollo stops by the detention center, but Wocky is in questioning (don't think too hard about the legal ethics of questioning a suspect while denying him access to a lawyer), so Apollo questions Stickler, who's being held for his panty theft antics.

Apollo then meets with Eldoon, who turns out to be a former surgeon. Meraktis drove him out of business through his dealings with the Kitakis, forcing Eldoon to go into the noodle business.

Apollo converses with Plum, who's Winfred's wife and Wocky's mother. She's convinced that her tough guy son can't actually bring himself to shoot anyone, and while she's polite toward her future daughter-in-law Alita, she can't help but be suspicious of her.

Apollo meets up with Wocky, who mostly confirms what the player knows so far. He's head over heels in love with Alita, wants to be a gangster and is bitter towards Meraktis for botching his operation. Unfortunately, he's rather vague on what happened after he confronted Meraktis.

Apollo returns to the crime scene, where he meets up with Klavier. Klavier mentions how his motorcycle broke down due to a clogged exhaust pipe, in a bit of foreshadowing of later developments. 

Ema is nearby, in a bad mood as always. If asked about Klavier, she's bitter about working under him, both because of his personality and because he was the one who cost Phoenix his badge. Luckily, her mood improves after she does some scientific analysis for Apollo, and she eventually allows him to investigate the Meraktis Clinic.

First, Apollo stops by the Hickfield Clinic to speak with Phoenix, who's recuperating from the hit-and-run the other day. Phoenix proves evasive when it comes to the trial, claiming that he quit being a lawyer out of shame over being defeated by the then 17-year-old Klavier, and refuses to confirm or deny the accusations of him forging evidence. Instead, he points out that there was a forged piece of evidence in that morning's trial.

Apollo and Trucy then head to Meraktis Clinic, finding a sandal to match the one that they found in the park. They aren't alone, since a mysterious intruder breaks into the clinic, but escapes before the two can catch sight of them. Cracking open the  safe, they discover a medical chart for Wocky, which not only bears Meraktis' signature, but also that of Alita Tiala, who was a nurse at the time. There's also a bullet lodged in the wall inside the safe.

Apollo brings the sandal back to Ema, who confirms they're a match, and upon visiting Wocky, he realizes the sandals belong to Alita. Wocky also confirms that he met Alita at the clinic.

Apollo meets with Eldoon one last time, and Eldoon is immediately alarmed upon seeing Wocky's chart. Wocky is on death's door and shouldn't be on trial, since the bullet is lodged near his heart and is slowly moving. Now that half a year has passed since he was shot, Wocky is out of time, and only a gifted surgeon beyond Eldoon or Meraktis' abilities can save him.

Trucy is naturally appalled that Meraktis lied to the Kitakis, but Eldoon understands Meraktis' situation despite despising the man. He couldn't admit that he wasn't able to remove the bullet, so all he could do was sew Wocky up and wait for him to die.

Eldoon also notices that Alita's name is on the chart, and wonders why she'd insist on getting married to Wocky before he gets a second operation.

Trial Day 2

Like most Ace Attorney cases, Turnabout Corner only lasts two days.

Phoenix meets up with Apollo and Trucy in the defendant lobby. After some bantering, Phoenix reveals that Alita will be taking the witness stand today, testifying against Wocky. When court resumes, Alita testifies that Wocky told her about his plans to kill Meraktis. 

Alita starts off by mentioning that Wocky took one of the Kitaki family's pistols(which are illegal for private citizens to possess in Japan) to kill Meraktis. The rifling marks on the bullet confirm that one of the Kitakis' guns was used to kill Meraktis, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Wocky was the one who pulled the trigger. Rather, Alita had access to the gun, and Apollo proposes that she was the one who killed Meraktis. The judge and Klavier are skeptical about Alita committing murder on her fiance's behalf, but Apollo insists that there's a connection between Alita and Meraktis. By presenting Wocky's chart, he proves Alita was a former nurse, and by presenting her sandals, he proves she went to the clinic recently.

Alita claims she went to warn Meraktis about Wocky. Klavier pre-emptively fills in the hole in her testimony- leaving her sandals behind- but Apollo points out that Alita's name is on the chart, so she'd be in trouble if Wocky found it. Alita claims that nothing happened when she met with Meraktis, but the fact that the bullet found inside the safe came from Wocky's gun proves otherwise.

A rifling test is performed on the bullet, and it's confirmed that it came from the Kitakis' gun. Apollo concludes that the person who fired the bullet was the one threatening Meraktis, and Alita is the most likely person. Alita's motive is obvious- she wants to marry him and then inherit the Kitaki fortune once the bullet kills him.

Wocky angrily interjects and denies that Alita did anything. Alita, however, smugly admits that it's true, and chides Wocky for not putting two and two together. Klavier and the Judge make note of Alita's vile true colors, but Alita insists that while she may be a gold digger, she's not a murderer. She even admits to trespassing in the clinic, but denies killing Meraktis.

At this point, it's clear that Alita is not only unlikable, but rather poor at carrying out her evil plan of becoming heiress to the Kitaki family. Having been accused of murder, her only recourse was to admit to using Wocky, and it later turns out that she would likely have been the victim had things turned out differently.

The court discusses where the killer was when shooting Meraktis, and Apollo points out the one possible location- the stolen noodle cart. Apollo manages to prove that Alita had been inside, and that Meraktis had put her there after clearing out the bowls. He then adds that Meraktis had tried to strangle Alita with the lamp cord, and that Alita is hiding the injury with her scarf, prompting Alita to scream and have a breakdown.

A flashback is shown, detailing Alita and Meraktis' encounter. Meraktis knew he was doomed and was resigned to his fate, but refused to give Alita the chart, wanting her to go down with him. He then strangled her to unconsciousness, nearly killing her. The judge believes that despite Alita's wrongdoing, she is also a victim in the case, but Klavier isn't so sure.

Apollo then works on figuring out what happened after Meraktis strangled Alita. He then stole Eldoon's noodle stand to transport Alita's body and dispose of it in the park's river. He would have used his car, but the panties in the exhaust pipe prevented it from running. Meraktis then ran into Wocky in the park and tried to warn him about Alita's duplicity, at which point Stickler tried to break up the fight. Unfortunately, Alita regained consciousness at that point and shot Meraktis in the head.

Alita finally surrenders, admitting to her crimes in a rather understated manner. She regrets hiring Apollo to defend Wocky, having thought he would fail. One would think that Alita would want a Not Guilty verdict for Wocky without identifying the true culprit.

Klavier takes his defeat well, and Apollo concludes that Klavier must have realized that Alita was guilty and done everything within his power as a prosecutor to guide the trial toward that point.

Whatever the case may be, the judge declares that Wocky Kitaki is not guilty.

Post-Trial

As Apollo and Trucy celebrate their victory, Wocky is furious with them for getting Alita arrested. Wocky's father Winfred, however, calls Wocky out on not understanding anything. After an optional evidence prompt, you can prove that the Kitakis went legitimate to raise the money to hire a surgeon for Wocky, knowing that their gangster lifestyle put him in peril. Wocky is so shocked he drops the "gangster" act, then runs off swearing that he'll take down Winfred to take over the family. Winfred thanks Apollo and offers him one of his pies.

Apollo thinks about what has happened in the trial and the new power Trucy made him aware of. They go to claim their reward from Eldoon, with Trucy offering to put on a show afterwards.

Conclusion

The second day of the trial is somewhat more entertaining than the first, especially since many of the parts of the case start coming together. Unfortunately, the villain is quite underwhelming, with a weak motive and not much competence or charisma, although her struggle with the victim makes the case a bit more interesting.

All in all, the case is mediocre, not as good as Turnabout Trump nor as disappointing as Turnabout Serenade or Turnabout Succession. It's a bit of a bog-standard filler case that doesn't do much to develop the overall plot, although it does introduce Klavier and Apollo's Perceive ability, so it isn't a complete waste of time.