The Runaway Jury

Moodle Entry:

February 19, 2012

Pages 160-300- The Runaway Jury

The novel unfolds as the case is presented to the jury. Key witnesses such as scientific experts and family members testified on the case. One of the main characters in the book “The Runaway Jury” is juror #2. This juror’s name is Nick Easton. Nick is living a fictitious life. Serving on this case was no coincidence. In fact he has been relocating across the U.S in order to land a spot as a juror on the numerous tobacco law suites against the four major tobacco companies. This case was his chance, as he landed as a juror after multiple attempts. His goal was to get to know and influence all 11 of the other jurors. Mr. Fitch, the main lawyer for Pynex is suspicious of Nick and sends investigators into his apartment to spy on him. The irony of this was that Nick had a planted a surveillance camera and could tell his apartment was being spied on.

The plot thickened as a mysterious women started to plant notes to Rankin Fitch regarding Nick’s presence on the jury. This mysterious woman was giving details to Mr. Fitch that led him to believe that Nick was planted to help the Wood family finally win a tobacco case. There is a lot at stake should one case be lost by the tobacco industry.

At this point in my reading, I am unsure if Nick is truly working for the Wood attorneys. Based on his behavior and understanding of the system, the corruption by both legal teams, I hypothesize that he is actually motivated to blackmail both legal teams for his own benefit. I look forward to the rest of the book as I am not quite sure how this novel will turn out.