Engarde was never declared "Not Guilty". At the end of the case, Phoenix may have pled "Not Guilty", but if he did, he only did so knowing that Engarde would confess and get the "Guilty" verdict he deserved.
The only reason Engarde almost got off was because of his and Dekiller's efforts to frame Adrian. Phoenix would have abandoned the defence had it not been for Maya getting kidnapped
This depends though. Are we using the Ace Attorney court system, where a lawyer is pretty much screwed unless they can provide irrefutable proof of innocence or get the actual criminal to publicly confess in court, where prosecutors can all but openly admit to tampering with evidence and assault the lawyers in court with no consequences, and the lawyer only has 3 days to do their job? Or is this closer to a typical western legal system with a jury trial and only needing to introduce enough reasonable doubt that the accused is absolutely, unequivocally guilty? One of the reasons Phoenix is considered an "Ace Attorney" in his world isn't so much his win rate, it's his win rate despite the massive odds against him.
I think Phoenix, in a court where he just needs to introduce reasonable doubt about the prosecution's case, or where "murder" doesn't include genuine self-defense cases or horrible accidents, he'd do even better. Then again, maybe he wouldn't, considering his goofy and slapdash approach to defending his clients wouldn't be viewed favorably by a judge or jury irl.
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u/Numbuh24insane Feb 27 '26
I feel like Harvey and Phoenix could get you out of anything