Larry Butz

Larry Butz is Phoenix Wright's oldest friend. He and Wright have known each other since they were small children. He is involved in Wright's investigations from time to time.

Early life
As a child, Butz befriended Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth in elementary school. One day, during the fourth grade, he was absent from school, but at some point in time he came to school anyway and stole $38 of Miles Edgeworth's lunch money. The next day, Wright was held on a classroom trial for the theft, but Edgeworth and Butz defended Wright from the accusations, asserting that there was no proof that Wright had done the deed.

Defendant

 * Main article: The First Turnabout

Butz's first known girlfriend was Cindy Stone, a model. One day, he went to her apartment, but she wasn't home at the time. Later, Butz was arrested as the suspect in Stone's murder. Wright, in his first trial, proved that Frank Sahwit was the real murderer, and thus, Butz was declared not guilty.

At first, Butz was still sad because Stone was dead, but then said that she didn't care much for him anyway. Wright proved that to be false, and showed Butz the Thinker clock that had been the murder weapon. Wright continued that, being a heavy clock, Butz must have meant something to Stone, otherwise she would not have carried it on her international trips. Butz tried to dismiss it, and gave Mia Fey another Thinker clock. He then thanked Wright, but never actually did pay him for his defense.

Hot dog vendor

 * Main article: Turnabout Goodbyes



By the following Christmas, Larry had taken a new job selling hot dogs by Gourd Lake to pay for yet another model girlfriend, Kiyance, who made a "Samurai Dogs" sign for his stall and a Father Christmas outfit for him to use. By the time Wright met up with him, she'd already vanished to Miami for a photo shoot.

Larry was around the crime scene on the night of the murder of Robert Hammond, searching for an inflatable Steel Samurai, and his testimony proved to be the defining piece of evidence proving the guilt of Yanni Yogi and the truth behind Manfred von Karma.

True to form, Butz's relationship with Kiyance did not last long either.

Security guard

 * Main article: The Stolen Turnabout

Artist

 * Main article: Bridge to the Turnabout

Five months after the Mask☆DeMasque cases, Butz appeared before Wright and Fey in front of Dusky Bridge, introducing himself as Laurice Deauxnim. He claimed that he was Elise Deauxnim's apprentice, and had become a new person after reading her picture book The Magic Bottle. Later that night, Butz dined at the nearby Hazakura Temple with Wright, Fey, Deauxnim and the temple nuns. There, Butz fell for one of the nuns, Iris, and wrote her a "blackmail" letter telling Iris to meet him at Heavenly Hall or risk having the "secret" about their "love" revealed. This scared Iris (for she really did have a secret), causing her to stay at the main temple that night.

That night, at around 11 p.m., Butz was waiting at Heavenly Hall, when a sudden flash of lightning woke him up. Looking up, he saw that Dusky Bridge was struck by lighting and caught on fire. He also saw a hooded figure, which he assumed was Iris, flying over the bridge. Butz drew the "incredible" sight he had just seen and then ran up to the bridge.

Ten minutes later, Wright arrived at the bridge and incited Larry to phone the police while he crossed the bridge to ensure Fey's safety. However, the bridge was considerably weakened from the fire and Wright fell into the Eagle River. Panicking, Butz called the police and Miles Edgeworth, telling the latter to show up at the detention center. Butz then convinced Edgeworth to take Iris's case.

While Edgeworth was investigating, he asked Butz about what he was doing on the night of the murder, but Larry refused to tell him, leading Edgeworth to investigate further. Later on, Edgeworth cornered Butz at Heavenly Hall. Edgeworth found out about the letter but Butz refused to talk about his "incredible" sighting.

At the trial the next day, Edgeworth called Butz as a witness, who was whipped continuously by Franziska von Karma, due to Butz's repeated asking of whether she would model for him. During the trial, he showed the picture he had drawn. This caused the entire court to question his sanity.

It was later proven that the picture was drawn upside-down, since Butz was lying on his back when the event occurred.

Steel Samurai

 * Main article: The Burning Turnabout

Personality
Larry often talks without thinking, which became a problem when he was accused of Cindy Stone's murder. He is known to have terrible luck but he has good intentions. He switches between girlfriends and jobs rather quickly. Regardless of these quirks, he stands by Wright when he needs help.

Note on relationships
It seems that Butz's biggest priority in life is to find a girlfriend. Even though he says that he is close to his many girlfriends, he seems oblivious to what they are actually doing. His girlfriends are almost always models. The earliest of these ever mentioned was Cindy Stone, who was murdered. He did not know that she was also dating several other "sugar daddies", as Winston Payne put it. Ironically, Stone seems to have been the closest thing to a serious girlfriend that Butz has ever had.

Later, Butz briefly mentioned another woman who was also a model, named Kiyance, but she moved to Paris and "left him behind". Two years later, he flirted with Desirée DeLite while working as a security guard for Kane Bullard, having just been dumped by another model.