I've been replaying 2-4 and I am mentally chewing on it and throwing it around like a dog with its favorite toy (or, second favorite toy, i suppose) so I'm just gonna ramble for a bit here if you don't mind.
It's so clever that the first witness of the second trial day is Will Powers, a prior defendant.
We all know Phoenix defends his clients because "he believes in them". Here, he's throwing around whatever he can possibly say to stall, and the person on the stand while he does this... is someone he had previously believed in to defend. And now, he kinda has to throw that all back in his face for a bit, for the sake of a little extra time. That's gotta sting.
This same thing extends to Matt's Psyche-Locks, where Phoenix leaves his ability to trust the man he's taking for a client... to magic. It's convenient to know when someone's lying to you... but Matt entirely nullifies it by the wording of his response. Phoenix trusts the Magatama more than he trusts Matt.
Because he can't afford to acknowledge any other situation, or he doesn't know how to save Maya. He wants to be so sure of his innocence from the get-go he tricks himself. Then his brain jumps to the next step after "the defendant is innocent", which we all know is "find the real culprit", which he jumps to as soon as he can see a potential suspect in Adrian.
AND ALSO de Killer's belief in his clients parallels Phoenix's, and only once both are broken can Matt be found guilty.
GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH 2-4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
