A True Verdict

MediMiracle Corporation manufactures Sophrosyne, a miracle cure for opiate addiction. Ellison Ricard, a research analyst for the company, claims to have uncovered data that proves Black users of Sophrosyne experience fatal side effects far more often than people of other races. When Ricard confronts MediMiracle’s charismatic founder and CEO, Peyton Burke, a violent confrontation ensues. The wheelchair-bound Ricard—a Black man who had been severely injured years earlier—is fired that very day.

Ricard turns to aging lawyer M. Bailey Klaus, to sue Burke and MediMiracle for civil rights violations, alleging that Ricard was fired because he blew the whistle on the coverup and because he was Black. Klaus faces off against his former protégé, Cicely Pagano, each arguing for drastically different versions of Ricard. Is he a brilliant, sincere, credible person who is rightfully standing up against a deadly product? Or is he a delusional, embittered, and avaricious liar who is taking advantage of his former employer?

Ricard’s fate rests with an eight-person jury who can’t agree on anything. Working together to reach a consensus means navigating a tempest of the most divisive issues: politics, sexism, drug abuse, capitalism, healthcare, and racism. Can eight people with different backgrounds, ages, classes, and political views avoid coming to blows, much less render a true verdict? Told through court transcripts and jury deliberations, A True Verdict is a suspenseful ride to a shocking outcome …