The Runaway Jury

"Sure, Judge."

THE STORY, on the front page of the Journal, had been written by Agner Layson, a senior reporter who’d sat through most of jury selection and all of the testimony. Layson had practiced law for ten years and had been in many courtrooms. His story, the first of a series, gave the basics of the issues and the specifics on the players. There was no opinion of how the trial was progressing, no guess as to who was winning or losing, just a fair summary of the rather convincing medical proof offered so far by the plaintiff.

In response to the story, Pynex’s stock dipped a dollar at the opening bell, but by noon had found itself sufficiently corrected and adjusted and was deemed to be weathering the brief storm.

The story prompted a flood of phone calls from brokerage houses in New York to their analysts on the ground in Biloxi. Minutes of meaningless gossip accumulated into hours of hopeless speculation as the harried souls in New York quizzed and inquired and pondered about the only question that mattered: "What’s the jury gonna do?"

The young men and women assigned to monitor the trial and predict what the jury might do had no collective clue.

Chapter Eleven

The cross-examination of Bronsky ended late Thursday afternoon and Marlee struck with a fury Friday morning. Konrad took the first call at seven twenty-five, routed it quickly to Fitch, who was on the phone to Washington, then listened as it played on the speakerphone: "Good morning, Fitch," she said sweetly.

"Good morning, Marlee," Fitch answered with a happy voice, his best effort at pleasantness. "And how are you?"

"Fabulous. Number two, Easter, will wear a light blue denim shirt, faded jeans, white socks, old running shoes, Nikes, I think. And he’ll bring with him a copy of Rolling Stone, October issue, Meat Loaf on the cover. Got that?"

"Yes. When can we get together and talk?"

"When I get ready. Adios." She hung up. The call was traced to the lobby of a motel in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at least ninety minutes away by car.

Pang was sitting in a coffee shop three blocks from Easter’s apartment, and within minutes he was loitering under a shade tree fifty yards from the ancient VW Beetle. On schedule, Easter exited through the front entranceway at seven forty-five, and began his customary twenty-minute walk to the courthouse. He stopped at the same corner grocery for the same newspapers and the same coffee.

Of course, he was wearing exactly what she’d promised.

Her second call also came from Hattiesburg, though from a different number. "Got a new wrinkle for you, Fitch. And you’re gonna love it."

Fitch, barely breathing, said, "I’m listening."

"When the jurors come out today, instead of sitting, guess what they’re gonna do?"

Fitch’s brain froze. He couldn’t move his lips. He knew he wasn’t expected to make an intelligent guess. "I give up," he said.

"They’re gonna do the Pledge of Allegiance."

Fitch shot Konrad a bewildered look.

"Got that, Fitch?" she asked, almost mocking.

"Yeah."

Her line went dead.

HER THIRD CALL went to the law offices of Wendall Rohr, who, according to a secretary, was quite busy and unavailable. Marlee understood perfectly well, but explained that she had an important message for Mr. Rohr. The message would arrive in about five minutes on the fax machine, so would the secretary be so kind as to receive it and take it straight to Mr. Rohr before he left for court. The secretary reluctantly agreed, and five minutes later found a plain sheet of paper lying alone in the receiving tray of the fax. There was no transmitting number, no indication of from where or from whom the fax came. In typed, single-spaced words in the center of the page, the message read:

WR: Juror number 2, Easter, will today wear a blue denim shirt, faded jeans, white sox, old Nikes. He likes Rolling Stone and he will prove to be quite patriotic.

MM

The secretary rushed it to Rohr’s office where he was packing a bulky briefcase for the day’s battle. Rohr read it, quizzed the secretary, then called in his co-counsel for an emergency session.

THE MOOD couldn’t quite be classified as festive, especially for twelve people being held against their will, but it was Friday and the chatter was noticeably lighter as they gathered and greeted one another. Nicholas held a seat at the table, near Herman Grimes and across from Frank Herrera, and he waited for what he thought to be a lull in the idle talk. He looked at Herman, who was hard at work with his laptop. He said, "Hey, Herman. I have an idea."

By now Herman had the eleven voices committed to memory, and his wife had spent hours providing matching descriptions. He especially knew Easter’s tone.

"Yes, Nicholas."

Nicholas raised his voice in an effort to catch everyone’s attention. "Well, when I was a kid, I went to a little private school, and we were trained to begin each day with the Pledge of Allegiance. Every time I see a flag early in the morning, I have this desire to give the pledge." Most of the jurors were listening.

Poodle had gone out for a smoke. "And in the courtroom out there we have this beautiful flag standing behind the Judge, and all we do is sit and look at it."

"I hadn’t noticed," Herman said.

"You wanna do the Pledge of Allegiance, out there, in open court?" asked Herrera, Napoleon, the Retired Colonel.

"Yeah. Why not do it once a week?"

"Nothing wrong with that," said Jerry Fernandez, who had secretly been recruited for the event.

"But what about the Judge?" asked Mrs. Gladys Card.

"Why should he care? In fact, why should anyone be bothered if we stand for a moment and honor our flag?"

"You’re not playing games, are you?" asked the Colonel.

Nicholas was suddenly wounded. He gazed across the table with aching eyes, and said, "My father was killed in Vietnam, okay. He was decorated. That flag means a lot to me."

And with that, the deal was sealed.

Judge Harkin greeted them with a warm Friday smile as they came through the door one by one. He was prepared to zip through his standard routine about unauthorized contact, and get on with the testimony. It took a second to realize they were not sitting, as usual. They remained standing until all twelve were in place, then they looked at the wall to his left, behind the witness stand, and they covered their hearts with their hands. Easter opened his mouth first and led them in a vigorous recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Harkin’s initial reaction was one of total disbelief; it was certainly a ceremony he’d never witnessed, not in a courtroom, not by a group of jurors. Nor had he ever heard of such a thing, and by now he thought he’d heard or seen it all. It was not a part of the daily ritual, had not been approved by him, did not in fact appear in any manual or handbook. And so his first impulse, after the jolt, was to call them down, make ’em stop it; and they’d talk about it later. Then he instantly realized that it seemed horribly unpatriotic and maybe even downright sinful to interrupt a group of well-meaning citizens as they took a moment to honor their flag. He glanced at Rohr and Cable and saw nothing but open mouths and slack jaws.

So then he stood. About halfway through the pledge, he lurched forward and upward, his black robe floating around him, and turned to the wall, clutched his chest, and picked up the chant.

With the jury and the Judge honoring the Stars and Stripes, it suddenly seemed imperative for everyone else to do likewise, especially the lawyers, who couldn’t chance disfavor or show the slightest hint of disloyalty. They jumped to their feet, kicking over briefcases and knocking back chairs. Gloria Lane and her deputy clerks, and the court reporter, and Lou Dell, sitting out there on the first row, far side, likewise stood and turned and followed along. The fervor lost its momentum, though, somewhere beyond the third row of spectators, and Fitch was thus fortunately saved from having to stand like a Cub Scout and mumble words he barely remembered.