Hammond was a gifted criminal defense attorney working at Grossberg Law Offices and a colleague of Mia Fey, with her younger sister Maya recognizing his photographmany years later, having once met him while spending time with her older sister at the law office. However, the only thing Hammond trusted was his own skill; he never placed any faith in his clients, nor cared about their guilt or innocence, working to win cases only for himself. This put him at odds with some of his colleagues, including Mia, but his dedication and skill were undeniable.
Robert Hammond... he said I was mentally unsound. He told me it would make me innocent. Get me off the hook. So... I pretended to have brain damage... I was innocent, really! But he didn't believe me! We won the trial... But I lost everything.
Gregory Edgeworth, Yanni Yogi, & Miles Edgeworth trapped in the courthouse elevator.
In December 2001, court baliff Yanni Yogi was accused of the murder of veteran defense attorney Gregory Edgeworth while trapped together in a District Court elevator alongside Gregory's young son, Miles. Hammond took on Yogi's defense for what would later be more well-known as the "DL-6 Incident".
Due to seemingly damning evidence and testimony against his client (including a spirit mediumchanneling the victim), Hammond claimed that oxygen deprivation had inflicted temporary insanity on his client. This secured a not guilty verdict, but at great cost to his client, as Yogi's life quickly took a turn for the worse: he was fired from his job as a court bailiff, lost his social standing, and his fiancee committed suicide. Hammond himself left Grossberg's law firm and kept a very low profile for the next decade and a half.
I thought this was my chance, after 15 years, this was it! Finally, a chance to have my revenge on Robert Hammond and Miles Edgeworth... I have no regrets.
Fifteen years later, Hammond travelled to Gourd Lake after receiving a letter from Yogi. However, this was a trap: Yogi, wanting revenge on his former lawyer for ruining his life, shot and killed Hammond inside the shack that he now called home. He then put on Hammond's coat to disguse himself as part of a plot to frame Miles Edgeworth for the murder, whom he had also called out to Gourd Lake that night via letter, albeit under the guise that Hammond had sent it; Yogi also resented Miles, believing that he was the true culprit behind the murder that had changed his life for the worse.
After making it seem to onlookers that Miles had shot "Hammond" while the two men were out on the lake, Yogi fell into the water, swam back to his shack, put Hammond's coat back on the body, and threw the corpse of his former attorney into the lake. The plan worked initially, as Miles was soon arrested and put on trial, with the undefeated legendary prosecutor Manfred von Karma prosecuting the case. However, Miles's rookie defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, was eventually able to expose Yogi as the true culprit behind Hammond's murder. It was also revealed that von Karma had orchestrated events from behind the scenes by sending a letter to Yogi with detailed instructions on how to kill Hammond and frame Miles. Wright exposed von Karma as the true culprit behind the DL-6 Incident, having shot and killed Gregory in the courthouse elevator after the Edgeworths and Yogi had collapsed from lack of oxygen; the perfection-obsessed von Karma blamed Gregory for the first and only penalty he had ever received in his prosecutor career during a trial 15 years prior.
The trial ended with Wright not only solving Hammond's murder, but also resolving the case that the late attorney had been unable to, thereby bringing Robert Hammond and Gregory Edgeworth's respective killers to justice.
Hammond was a skilled defense attorney. But... he defended clients not for their sake, but for his own. [...] He never trusted his clients, that one. The only thing he trusted was his own ability.
Although regarded as a skilled defense attorney by his peers, Hammond's desire to win trials, even if the method used would have negative effects on his clients' well-being post-trial, ultimately led to his death when Yogi enacted his revenge on a man who had a hand in his downfall.
Appearance[]
Hammond had wavy black hair and brown eyes. He wore a dark purple suit, a gray tie, and a black longcoat.
Name[]
Japanese - Yukio Namakura (生倉 雪夫)
English - Robert Hammond:
"Robert" is a Germanic given name that comes from "hrod" (fame) and "beraht" (bright).
"Hammond" can be derived from the Old Norse "Hámundr", which is composed of "Há" (high) and "Mund" (protection).
French - Jean Durand:
"Jean Durand" is a generic, common French name, equivalent to "John Smith" in English.
