Runaway Jury

Jack Solovay

College Business Law

Mr. Como

5 December 2014

How Trial Procedure is portrayed in the movie Runaway Jury:

In a court of law, the officials of the court go by a set of guidelines and rules to make trial a somewhat smooth and easier experience. This is what we call Trial Procedure. Each branch of every Judiciary District has its own trial procedure. For example, Family Court trial procedure is much different from a civil case trial’s procedure, and a criminal case’s trial procedure. Furthermore, the movie “Runaway Jury” has a great way of showing how trial procedure works in a civil matter, and making it easy for people to understand what trial procedure is really about.

At the beginning of trial, the plaintiff sends out a complaint to the defendant. The plaintiff’s attorney is Wendell Rohr and the defense attorney is Rankin Finch. Rohr wants to sue Finch for the damages that the gun company he represents has done wrong by selling guns to random people to sell on the street. Because of this irresponsibility, one of the guns that were sold illegally was used to kill the plaintiff’s husband.

After the deposition and constantly trying to settle, both parties could not come to an agreement and they decided to go to trial. Before the trial started, the started to select a grand jury for their trial. They chose 16 people to be in the grand jury, including the main character of the movie, Nicholas Easter, and a blind man to be the person who represents the whole grand jury.

As the trial started to become an actual trial, it was the Rohr’s turn to call up his witnesses. After each witness, Finch had the right to cross examine them, which he did. Finally, after all these witnesses, it was Finch’s turn to call o his witnesses, but the same thing goes for the plaintiff as it goes to the defense. The plaintiff has the right to cross examine every witness the defense pulls out as well, which he did, and for each witness he made them seem like they were not credible. After all the cross examination and the attorneys submitting documentary evidence and other types of evidence, both sides have the right to re-cross any other witness if during their testimony they brought up a new time period of discovery to talk about.

At the end of the trial between Finch and Rohr, the jury had to be sequestered so they could make a verdict on the case. Before every jury goes to make a verdict, the Judge gives them a set of rules to go by to make the verdict, what the charges/crimes go with what decision and anything else they need to make their verdict be an easy and smooth decision. At the end of the conflicted discussions with the each juror, they finally reached a verdict. It ruled that the defense was guilty and owed the plaintiff over 29 million dollars. The Judge agreed, and the charges were given to the defense and they were ruled. However, the judge does not always have to agree with a jury’s verdict. It is very rare, but sometimes under extreme circumstance, the judge might actually make a judgment against the jury.