Runaway Jury

New Orleans, good morning. It's Rob Ryan in with you.

Coming up, tickets for the big Voodoo Fest coming to town...

... Ponchartrain, to the banks of the Mississippi,

from Baton Rouge to Bayou Boutin,

this is Hooks checking your news headlines.

Good day to be in New Orleans...

How's the birthday boy? Huh?

- (man) And this is for Mommy. - (woman) Thank you, sweetheart.

Look at Grandpa. Look at Grandpa. Say hi.

- You wanna open a present? - (boy) Yeah!

- Good morning, Mr. Wood. - Morning, Katie.

- Paper. - Oh.

- Thank you. How was your weekend? - Great. How was yours?

- Very nice. - Good.

- How are the kids? - Great.

Oh, sh...

- (giggling) - Henry!

Jacob.

- Ted. Morning. - It's happening.

- What? What's happening? - Does your car have a radio?

Greenspan's speech was delayed after the FOMC meeting.

Rumor is he's sick, and my screen looks like

the end of the world is factored into prices.

Let's have everyone in the conference room in ten minutes.

Deborah, I need you for five minutes.

Ted, it's Monday, buddy. There'll be a Tuesday.

OK, you have a conference call

about the anti-trust approvals with Hallory at 11.

Close the door, please.

- So, how did Henry's party go? - Terrific. He had a great time.

Good.

- I-I have a problem. - OK. What is it?

He taught me a song for his birthday, and I have to sing it for him

tonight at bedtime, and I can't think, for the life of me, what it is.

OK, OK. Just, you know, sing me a little and we'll figure it out together.

Whoo!

- (gunfire) - What the hell is this?

- Call 911! - (gunfire continues)

- (woman) 911. - Yes, I wanna report a shooting.

- Get behind the desk. - What?

- Get behind the desk and stay there! - Ma'am?

Uh, the Laurel-Morgan Building.

- Third floor, Pete Murray and Colfax. - How many are injured, ma'am?

- Ma'am? - I don't know.

I don't know how many... No, you gotta stay with me! God!

- Quiet... - They put me on hold.

- Hello? - Oh, shit.

- Deborah. Deborah, calm down. - Can you see anything?

- It's gonna be fine. I promise. - Hello?

Hello? Come on...

Come on. Please send somebody.

Somebody pick up. Please pick up.

- Good morning, Mr. Pulaski. - Morning, Nick.

- Do you need some help with that? - Ah, bilge ring keeps crappin' out,

blocking up the damn pump. I got it now, Nick.

Last time, you nearly took out every sink in the quarter, you know.

Hey, that was those kids messing with the water main. (coughing)

You know, you should really quit those things.

What for?

Christmas comes a little early this year.

Ah, there's our boy. So, what do you say?

Does he stop in for coffee and a cruller?

- (man #2) Ah, let's give him a cruller. - Oh, bingo! We have a winner.

I can smell the fried dough over here.

And... Ah, there he is. Breakfast of champions, right there.

Oh, and we're losing him. I'll take just a couple more.

Say good-bye to Mr. Nicholas Easter. Who's next on the hit parade?

- Hi. - Bonjour.

- Can I look at that candle? - C'est la?

No, I'm sorry. The red one.

It's just to the left of that scary pentacle and the jar of bloodroot.

- Right there? - (speaks Cajun)

Oh!

Oh, thank you. What did you say?

She's Cajun. I told her that you wanted the St. Nicholas candle.

- Right? Is that what you wanted? - Yeah, that's the one I was pointing to.

Now, what happened right there? What did she say?

She said you're a nice-looking boy, but she doesn't trust you.

She didn't say that, did she?

You know what it is?

Jury duty. Got a summons in the mail. Just trying to pray my way out of it.

- Where's your sense of civic duty? - Um, I flunked civics.

- Oh. - Do you have any other tips?

I would go with the St. Catherine candle.

- What did she do? - She's the patron saint

of unmarried women and... jurors.

- Really? - Really.

That's not what that candle really is, is it?

This your first time in New Orleans?

No, no. I've been here a number of times.

Hm. I had you pegged as a first-timer.

- Is that right? - (chuckling) Yeah.

- How's your mother? - Excuse me?

- Is she feeling better? - How do you know about my mother?

She was in the hospital, but now you're taking care of her at home.

She had a stroke.

Your wife wants you to put her in a home,

but you're feeling guilty about that. You've checked out a few of them,

and it doesn't feel like the Christian thing to do.

My advice: Reconsider the home.

Better an unhappy mother than an unfriendly wife.

I'm up here on the right.

The same thing with guns and Vicksburg Firearms.

The only thing that's gonna win the case for us is because for the first time,

we got a gun company ex-executive who's gonna go up against his former employer

and, with good conscience, he's gonna testify for us.

I promised Celeste that I would win it for her

and all the other victims that died that day.

You're gonna make history, Celeste.

We're gonna make history together. Thank you for your courage.

Barry, we got the Strickland SUV case at noon,

and, Celeste, I'm gonna see you and your son at Arnaud's at six...

- Just as long as we don't talk about... - Nothing about the case.

This is dinner with you and Henry. Barry, you got time to see her to her car?

- Absolutely. - Thank you.

- Mr. Rohr. - Yeah?

Lawrence Green. Lindus Hostetler.

- Ah, Hostetler. - We... Yeah.

- Yes, jury consultants, New York City. - Philadelphia.

I wanna thank you for agreeing to meet with me, sir. Thank you.

I just want you to guess how many phone calls and letters

I get from expert jury consultants such as yourself.

- I can imagine, sir. - Go on, take a guess.

Well, I appreciate that you invited me down here, sir.

Well, this is more important now. Which one?

- I'm sorry? - Well, I'm off to court.

This is the striped, non-striped. Striped, non-striped.

Go... I would go with the striped one, sir. It matches your jacket.

And you have a striped one because you're from New York City.

Philadelphia, sir.

I think we're gonna go with the non-striped one, Phyllis.

You know, as a clever jury consultant,

you should know that jurors down here don't trust a lawyer

- who's too nattily turned out. Huh? - It's...

- How familiar are you with my case? - Very, sir.

- You think it's a strong case? - Yes, sir.

- Ooh. Do you think it's a winning case? - People don't win gun cases, Mr. Rohr.

I think I can help you with that, sir.

There's gotta be another commuter flight.

Have you tried one in Richmond or Atlanta?

I gotta call you back. He's here.

You represent the widow of a man shot by a Vicksburg Firearms gun.

That gun company's finding out things about prospective jurors

their husbands and their wives don't even know.

- Is that right? - Yeah. And the word is,

the defense has retained Rankin Fitch as their lead jury consultant.

- Rankin Fitch? - You don't...

No, I know who he is.

Mr. Fitch, how was your flight?

Fine. Are we up and running, Miss Monroe?

We are. Kaufman's inside with Birk and the kid from MIT, Lamb, he's here, too.

- What about Broussard, Forensic... - Linguistics out of Rochester.

He missed his connecting flight in Atlanta, but he'll be here by three.

- Who's our backup? - Sir, he'll be here by three.

- Who is our backup? - Levon Raines, out of Dallas.

All right. Call Mr. Broussard. Tell him his service is no longer required.

- See what time Raines can be here. - Yes, sir.

Mr. Fitch.

I just want you to tell me why I need a jury consultant.

Fitch's team will be scientifically picking jurors predisposed in his favor

by using video surveillance, wiretaps, psych profiles, graphology...

- Barry, where's my car? - It's where you parked it.

All right, come on. We're going together.

Sir, I have a master's in psychology from the University of Chicago.

I know handwriting analysis. I know this stuff. I really do. Plus civics, OK?

Delores Kinnerly, registered Democrat,

46 years of age, unmarried, occupational therapist. Devout cat lover.

Yeah, look at the way she turns away from the man walking his dog.

She's definitely self-conscious about her weight.

Maybe she just hates dogs.

- Good morning. - Morning.

Freeze that, Mr. Lamb.

We love fat women, people.

They're tight-fisted, unsympathetic.

I want her on my jury. Ladies and gentlemen, let's find 11 more jurors

and three alternates just like her.

- Who's next? - Jerry Fernandez, 40 years old.

Puerto Rican. Works for a local moving company...

I got 35 years of experience in courtrooms,

and my instincts for picking jurors

has served me quite nicely so far. I wanna thank you for your time.

Mr. Rohr, I flew down here on my own dime.

- Why? - Because I... I...

Because I believe in... I believe in this case!

- Why? - I... I believe in a world without guns.

That's very sweet, but a little naive.

- 30 percent. - I'm sorry. Excuse me?

30 percent of your usual fee, you're hired, strictly probationary status.

You don't wanna check out my resumé

Already did. It's impressive.

- (man) OK, here's the thing. - (Nick) What've you got?

"The following are automatically exempt..."

- I read through that stuff. - "Not a resident of New Orleans Parish."

That's not gonna work. What am I gonna say?

- We have to be thorough. - Russell, I'm gonna tell these people

- I'm just gonna pack up and leave? - Number two...

What do you mean, pack up and leave? I've seen your stuff.

- You ain't got nothing to pack. - No, it's true. They own you.

But I'll tell you this. One thing you can do: Leave the country.

Why am I gonna leave the country?