Hot take because apparently people lack media literacy: Edgeworth was vile in Dual Destinies, nothing about his actions were generally admirable or redeemable. He, at his core, simply represents another aspect of how a corrupt law system will harm the innocents; to obtain the ends of their own agenda. He is yet another representative of the whole notion that an end can justify the means, and frankly his end is selfish. Did he ever once truly care about the lives of Simon Blackquill and all those who crossed paths in the UR-1 incident? No, don't delude yourself here.
Think of it further, what was his plan to save Simon? They made an agreement, Simon could continue to prosecute, as long as they were both searching for the true culprit behind the UR-1 incident; something that ultimately benefited Edgeworth. He needed the prosecutors to look good, Simon's entire existence paints a rather ugly smear on the appearance of upstanding members of justice. However.... Edgeworth did not do anything, quite literally until Aura stepped in! If he were truly to care about Simon, there would have been other alternatives; yet he was simply just preying on the vulnerability and unstable nature of a broken woman grieving for her brother. Terrible plan and further shows that he still uses people like pawns.
Furthermore, one could argue that his hands were tied, etc. However, why was he so insistent on proving Athena's guilt? Reasonably, there would be no real way she could be proven as the culprit of a 7-year old case, Simon is already on death row and the "evidence" to indict her was clearly flawed. Yet Edgeworth would fight tooth and nail regardless, hoping for any possible candidate to fit his own agenda; he quite literally would have allowed the girl to be executed on a whim just so his precious public image could be saved. He disgusts me, even worse that he is presented as some sort of Saint or blessing here. For the innocent lives at stake, his actions were deplorable and frankly it is irritating to no end to see no discussion on the matter; or worse, dismissal that your beloved little meow meow could contain any true flaw.