| “ | Silence. I'm speaking. | „ |
| ~ Dee Vasquez |
Dee Vasquez is a minor antagonist in the game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, serving as the culprit of the third case, Turnabout Samurai. A producer of Global Studios, Vasquez had connections with the local mob which she used to blackmail and "erase" people. She was also a witness in the murder of actor Jack Hammer.
In the live-action Ace Attorney movie, she was portrayed by Miho Ninagawa; in the anime series, she was voiced by Yurika Hino in Japanese and Janelle Lutz in the English dub.
History[]
In 2011, Vasquez witnessed a fight between Jack Hammer and a fellow actor named Manuel. An accident occurred shortly after when Hammer accidentally (later revealed to have been purposeful) pushed Manuel onto a sharp fence, which impaled and killed him. Due to Vasquez's mob contacts, the accident never leaked to the press. Vasquez used said accident to blackmail Hammer later on.
Turnabout Samurai[]
Five years after the death of Manuel, Vasquez produced the popular kids' show Steel Samurai, in which Will Powers played the titular main character, and Jack Hammer played the main antagonist, the Evil Magistrate. By the time of the airing of the show, Hammer was fed up with being Vasquez's puppet and decided to exact revenge on her. He then dressed in the Steel Samurai's costume and confronted Vasquez on Studio 2. After the subsequent fight, Hammer died after being impaled on the same fence that killed Manuel five years earlier.
Despite the killing being in self-defense, Vasquez, with the help of director Sal Manella, moved the body to Studio 1 and dressed it in the Evil Magistrate's costume, making it look like Powers had murdered him using the Samurai Spear.
Phoenix Wright, with help from his assistant, Maya Fey, defended Powers in court and managed to prove Vasquez guilty of involuntary manslaughter (the only manslaughter charge in Phoenix's entire career). It is unknown what happened to her afterwards, but given how she had committed involuntary manslaughter instead of first degree murder and can plead justified self-defence, it is unlikely that she received the death penalty; additionally, when asked by the judge what had become of her, Edgeworth explained that she had gone to the waiting room rather than being arrested. However, it is possible that she was charged with the crime of blackmailing Jack Hammer.
Personality[]
Vasquez was one of the calmer witnesses in the series. She rarely got angry, even under the pressure of being suspected as the culprit. Whether this was due to her affiliations with the local mob is not confirmed. Vasquez had angry reactions here and there, but even after she was proven guilty, she quickly returned to her normal self and accepted defeat. She also seemed to care about Manuel, being openly horrified after witnessing his death and presumably blackmailing Hammer as a form of revenge.
Breakdown[]
In her breakdown, Vasquez has a slight outburst in which she starts to tremble and eventually snaps her pipe in half, returning to her usual calm demeanor shortly after.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Vasquez is the first female Ace Attorney killer to be defeated by Phoenix Wright (as April May was an accomplice rather than a killer). Vasquez was originally written as a male character, before one of the game's designers pointed out that all of the killers were turning out to be men.
- Dee Vasquez has the most restrained breakdown of all the culprits in the first game (only snapping her pipe in half out of frustration), another example of her stoic personality. She is also the first killer to accept their sentence when finally convicted.
- In the anime adaptation, Vasquez is portrayed as a much more villainous character, with Jack Hammer being portrayed in a more sympathetic light. In the anime, Vasquez shows no emotion to Manuel's death, and instead blackmails Hammer simply for her own amusement. Additionally, she says that she views all of her employees as pawns for her to use and dispose of as she sees fit.
