Richard Wellington

The sole witness in the murder of Officer Dustin Prince, Richard Wellington was a self-proclaimed "Drifting Virtuoso" who was looking for the "right" college.

Murder of Prince
Richard Wellington was a small-time con artist involved with a ring of other crooks. If anyone were to look into his cell phone, it would have been all over for him.

One day, Wellington lost his cell phone and tried to call it. It was finally answered by Maggey Byrde and Dustin Prince, who were going out on a date. He was promised his cell phone back, but when he got to the park, he found that the girl who picked up his phone was with a policeman. Fearing the worst, Wellington started to panic and attacked Officer Prince by pushing him off a ledge to the beach below, breaking his neck and killing him in the process. During the struggle, however, Prince grabbed his assailant's glasses and took them with him as he fell.

Wellington spent a lot of time looking for his glasses to no avail. Not wanting to be put on trial for his crime, Wellington decided to frame Byrde for the murder and wrote the name "Maggie" in the sand with the victim's right hand, not knowing how to spell Byrde's name. Byrde was put on trial for the murder.

Witness
Prosecutor Winston Payne set Wellington up as a witness for the murder. Meanwhile, Byrde showed Wellington's phone to her defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, who "lit up" at the key piece of evidence. Later, just before the trial, Wellington called his phone and found that it was in Wright's possession. Wellington hastily knocked Wright out, giving him amnesia, and took the phone Wright was holding.

Despite his amnesia, Wright figured out that Wellington's testimony did not hold water and that the way Wellington had set up the crime scene blatantly contradicted what was known about Byrde and Prince: that Byrde's first name was spelled "Maggey" and that Prince was left-handed. Wright eventually showed that Wellington was the real killer.

Personality
Wellington was about as talkative as Wendy Oldbag, making various allusions to historic figures and often comparing himself and others to them. Before his appearance in court, Winston Payne warns the Judge that he has a tendency to say things that rub people the wrong way.