The Runaway Jury

A jury consulting firm describes the person of Nicholas Easter. Nicholas is 27 years old and an employee in an electronics store called Computer Hut. Though he claims to be a part-time student, the firm’s investigators can find no evidence of his enrollment in any academic institution. The firm sends in a number of fake shoppers to assess Nicholas and his attitude toward smoking. The store he works in bans smoking, but the investigators send in a woman with a lit cigarette, who becomes agitated when Nicholas tells her to stop smoking. She attempts to provoke him, but he doesn’t take the bait. She asks him if he dislikes smoking, and he says that he doesn’t care, but the store’s owner does. She flirts with him and gives him her number before leaving.

The consulting firm, led by former lawyer Carl Nussman, comprises a group of experts in every field. For a fee, lawyers can hire Nussman’s firm to vet potential jurors. While the firm’s activities obviously violate the spirit of the law, there is nothing technically illegal about photographing potential jurors. The group thinks that Nicholas could be a good juror for an upcoming trial in which plaintiffs are seeking millions of dollars from a tobacco company.