Phoenix Wright's business card was a piece of evidence in the trial of Maggey Byrde for the murder of Dustin Prince.
Role in Prince murder trial[]
- Main article: The Lost Turnabout
At some point prior to the trial, Byrde was given one of Wright's business cards, with his cell phone number handwritten on the back. After Wright temporarily lost his memory after being attacked by Richard Wellington just before the trial started, he managed to struggle through until the judge called for a short recess, whereupon Wright explained his situation to a shocked Byrde. After asking for information about himself, Byrde returned the business card to him.
When the trial resumed, Wright once again managed to blunder through his defense despite his memory loss, and even worked out that Wellington, who was on the stand as a witness, was the true culprit behind Prince's murder. Wright claimed that Wellington was a con artist who was part of a larger circle of confidence tricksters, but had lost his cell phone containing the contact details of his fellow criminals on the day of the murder. After calling the phone, the person who had found it (Byrde) agreed to meet up to return it.
However, on his way to collect the phone, Wellington had seen Byrde and Prince together and had come to the wrong conclusion that she had shown a police officer the phone and its contents, since Prince was still in his uniform. Afraid that the policeman would ask a few questions before returning the phone, Wellington had panicked and murdered Prince.
Wellington laughed at this, stating that it was an impressive theory, but that there was no way to prove that the phone Wright had been shown to the court belonged to him at all. Wellington continued to laugh and added that the numbers on the phone he had in his possession had magically been wiped, so it would be impossible to cross check any numbers on his phone's memory with those on the list Wright had copied from it.
Finding himself in a tight spot, Wright pleaded for another chance to prove that the phone belonged to Wellington, which the judge granted. Remembering the business card that Byrde had given him earlier, Wright showed it to the court. Although there was some initial confusion about his intention, with the judge thinking that he wanted to exchange cards, Wright specified that he was referring to the number that had been written on the back. He then asked his assistant, Maya Fey, to phone the number, whereupon the phone in Wellington's possession began to ring. Wright explained that Wellington had attacked him earlier in the morning in order to retrieve the cell phone that would incriminate him. However, he had accidentally taken Wright's phone instead. At this Wellington broke down on the stand and Byrde was declared not guilty.
Note[]
- Wright's business card shares the same sprite as the judge's own business card.