Gaspen Payne

Gaspen Payne is a prosecutor from the Ace Attorney series. He was a district prosecutor in Los Angeles before becoming the Chief Prosecutor of the Kingdom of Khura'in. He is the younger brother of Winston Payne, whose multiple defeats at the hands of Phoenix Wright prompted Gaspen to wish to defeat the renowed defense attorney himself. However, Phoenix Wright went on to beat him in both of their trials, only causing him humiliation.

Unlike his brother, who generally plays by the rules, Gaspen in an unpleasant, corrupt man who berates defendants and uses underhanded tactics to win cases. This underhandedness extended to flat-out villainy, however, when he tried to get nine-year-old Ahlbi Ur'gaid executed. On top of this, he tried to outright murder Phoenix by luring him towards getting him unjustly executed, as well, under the Defense Culpability Act.

The Bombing Trial

Gaspen prosecuted the case of the courtroom bombing against Juniper Woods, whom he constantly berated and badgered, much to the anger of her childhood friend, Athena Cykes. He successfully backed the aforementioned female attorney into a corner from the outset when he presented conclusive evidence.

However, Phoenix arrived just in time and took over the lead on the defense. Gaspen was thrilled to have a chance to defeat the attorney who had humiliated his younger brother, Winston, so many times. Unfortunately for him, Phoenix was able to successfully prove Woods innocent, proving the bomb disposal specialist Ted Tonate to be the true culprit. When Tonate threatened to detonate a supposed bomb he had on him, Payne fleed the courtroom in fear, along with the citizens in the gallery. In his absence, Phoenix fearlessly provided proof that Tonate was bluffing, and the latter confessed to all of his crimes, resulting in Woods's not guilty verdict.

Ahlbi Ur'Gaid's Trial

When Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth began to make progress on rooting out corruption within the prosecutor's office, Payne was one of the prosecutors who was chased out. He left the country and moved to Khura'in, a country whose legal system was devoid of attorneys and full of twisted corruption. He soon worked his way up the ranks, becoming the kingdom's chief prosecutor in only three months.

He prosecuted the case against the child Ahlbi Ur'gaid, who was charged with both the theft of a sacred relic and the murder of a guard. However, Phoenix had coincidentally traveled to the country to visit his friend and former assistant, [Maya Fey, and had interrupted the trial proceedings, sticking up for Ahlbi's innocence. The judge was going to throw the attorney out after explaining that Khura'in didn't have defense attorneys, but Payne saw an opportunity for revenge using the Defense Culpability Act and convinced the judge to allow him to defend the accused. Phoenix obliviously went along with it, not knowing about the DC Act until he was eventually informed by the judge that it meant that if Ahlbi was found guilty, he would also receive whatever punishment that Ahlbi received. It was at this moment that Payne exposed his own true evil and pushed for the death penalty for both Phoenix and Ahlbi.

Despite this, Phoenix was able to prove Ahlbi's innocence, and proved Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin was the true culprit. Payne was once again left humiliated by Phoenix.