Mock trial

One of the important, life-changing events for Phoenix was back when he was in elementary school. The memory popped up in response to an innocent question from Phoenix's assistant, Maya. Phoenix was working on a case, a case where Miles Edgeworth (the prosecutor that Phoenix usually butts heads with in trials) was Phoenix's client! Miles was accused of a murder, and it was up to Phoenix to defend him. Though Miles at first would not speak of anything to do with the night of the murder, Phoenix believed strongly that Miles was innocent. Maya's question to Phoenix was why did he trust in Edgeworth so much?

Phoenix's answer is a childhood flashback of what happened years and years ago when they, along with Larry Butz, were all childhood friends in school. One day in class, Phoenix was accused of stealing another student's money: little Miles Edgeworth's money. The class decided to hold a mock trial, with Phoenix as the accused. Things looked bad for little Phoenix, because at the time the money was stolen, Phoenix was sitting out of P.E. class, giving him the perfect oppurtunity to swipe the cash. In fact, he was the only person sitting out of P.E. class so ...

Little Phoenix was horrified, because he knew he did not steal the money. But there in the classroom, all his peers were pointing the finger at him, saying he must have stolen it and demanded that Phoenix pay Miles back. This obviously did not make Phoenix happy at all. Phoenix began to cry.

saved by miles

Very surprisingly, little Edgeworth stood up to Phoenix's defense. He yelled at the class for their mock trial, because they had no decisive evidence to prove it was Phoenix who stole the money. Their classmates were confused because Miles was the victim, yet he was standing up for Phoenix? But Miles only insisted that without evidence, they have nothing against Phoenix. Miles' father was a defense attorney himself, and Miles wanted to grow up to be just like him, which was why he was dealing with the situation properly like a lawyer should.

Phoenix was surprised at this act of kindness. He was grateful for the way Miles stood up for him, when nobody else did, and this was one of the catalysts that pushed Phoenix in the direction of law; Phoenix hoped that nobody else would feel the way he did back in that elementary classroom, falsely accused and with nobody believing him. From then on, Phoenix and Miles became good friends, that is, until Miles moved away.

reunion

Years later, when Phoenix heard that Miles had become a prosecutor and not a defense attorney as he had previously aspired to become, Phoenix was very confused and wondered what happened. Miles was his good friend who defended him when he was young, but now he is off convicting people and rumor has it, even using underhanded methods to do so. Phoenix tried contacting Miles but Miles would not reply back, so Phoenix decided to find Miles in the courtroom, as a defense attorney. Miles never seems pleased to see Phoenix, in fact, he mocks him quite a bit. This naturally leaves Phoenix very puzzled, because as far as he knows, he has not done anything to anger Edgeworth. Still, Phoenix holds onto his childhood memory and believes strongly that the Miles he knew back then is still there, just hidden by something else.

wait, so who did it?

In case you are curious, it was Larry who stole the money. He returned the money to Miles years later, after Miles was proven not guilty in the murder he was accused of. Better late than never, I suppose.