Runaway Jury

In New Orleans, an ex-employee perpetrates a mass shooting with a machine pistol at a stock brokerage firm. Eleven people are killed and several others wounded in the incident. Among the dead is Jacob Wood. Two years later, with attorney Wendell Rohr, Jacob's widow Celeste Wood takes Vicksburg Firearms to court on the grounds that the company's gross negligence led to her husband's death. During jury selection (voir dire), jury consultant Rankin Fitch and his team communicate background information on each of the jurors through electronic surveillance to defense attorney Durwood Cable. In the jury pool, Nick Easter attempts to get himself excused. Judge Frederick Harkin refuses, claiming he's giving him a lesson in civic duty, and Fitch tells Cable that the judge has now given them no choice but to select Nick as a juror. Nick's congenial manner wins over his fellow jurors, but Frank Herrera, a Marine veteran, takes an instant dislike to him. Nick's girlfriend, Marlee makes an offer to Fitch and Rohr by phone: she will deliver the desired verdict to the first bidder. Rohr dismisses the offer, assuming it to be a tactic by Fitch to obtain a mistrial. Fitch asks for proof that she can deliver, though, which she provides by asking if he "feels patriotic". Nick then steers the jury toward a patriotic gesture, with a juror suggesting that they recite the Pledge of Allegiance. By observing the jurors' behaviour through concealed cameras, Fitch identifies Nick as the influencer and orders his apartment to be searched, but finds nothing. Nick interrupts the intruder, leading to a fight and foot chase, but the man escapes. Marlee retaliates by getting one of Fitch's jurors bounced. Fitch then blackmails three jurors, one of whom, Rikki Coleman, attempts suicide. He also sends his men to find a concealed storage device in Nick's apartment with key information, after which they set fire to it. Nick shows the judge video footage of the earlier break-in, and the judge orders the jury sequestered. Rohr's key witness, a former Vicksburg employee, doesn't show up. After confronting Fitch, Rohr decides that he cannot win the case. He asks his firm's partners for $10 million to pay Marlee. Fitch sends an operative, Janovich, to kidnap Marlee, but she fights him off and raises the price to $15 million. On principle, Rohr changes his mind and refuses to pay. After the CEO of Vicksburg Firearms loses his temper under cross-examination as a witness and makes a bad impression on the jury, Fitch agrees to pay Marlee to be certain of the verdict. Fitch's subordinate Doyle, who is investigating Nick, finds that Nick is, in fact, Jeff Kerr, a law school drop-out. He then travels to Gardner, Indiana, where Jeff and his law school girlfriend Gabby (i.e., Marlee) both come from. Doyle gently quizzes Gabby's mother, who reveals that Gabby's sister died in a shooting years ago when she was in high school. At the time, the town of Gardner sued the manufacturer of the guns used and lost; Fitch had helped the defense win the case. Doyle concludes that Nick and Marlee's offer is a set-up, and he calls Fitch, but it is too late as the money has already been paid. After Nick receives confirmation of the payment, he asks the other jurors to review the facts, saying they owe it to Celeste to deliberate. This causes Herrera to launch into a rant against the plaintiff, which undermines any support he had from the other jurors. The gun manufacturer is found liable, with the jury awarding $110 million in general damages to Celeste. After the trial, Nick and Marlee confront Fitch with a receipt for the $15 million bribe, which they threaten to make public unless he retires. Fitch asks Nick how he got the jury to vote for the plaintiff; Nick replies that he didn't, explaining that he stopped Fitch from stealing the trial merely by getting the jury to vote with their hearts. Nick and Marlee inform an indignant Fitch that the $15 million "fee" will benefit the shooting victims in Gardner.

Plot from Runaway JuryCC BY-SA 4.0