In a futuristic Detroit with flying cars, light up crosswalks and embedded hand chips one more thing is being prepared to be revolutionized. Cassandra is a jury consultant on a trial hoping to be the first of many. The court system is changing what it means to be on a jury. Instead of humans they’re using HD holograms, officially referred to as replicated consciousnesses. The experiences, thought processes and personalities of real people are collected and then paired with a holographic image.  

Ammie Moore is the defendant on trial. She’s a khem addicted woman with a history of being abused by the men in her life, accused of stabbing a man to death in an alleyway. She’s denied committing the crime but it’s not until the severity of the situation is reiterated by Cervantez, her lawyer, that she admits her pimp, C-Jack, killed the man in order to protect her. 

The day before the trial Cassandra dedicates several hours to familiarizing Cervantez with the new jury system. Unlike Cassandra, her colleague and the judge, he is not on board with an AI jury. He believes the reason a majority of his defendants are not in jail is because the humanity of the jury allows them to see the whole person instead of just a criminal. By the end of the session Cervantez is no more convinced on the validity of the program but he is more comfortable with pleading for his client’s life to a dozen holograms.

Despite Cervantez’s reservations the trial could not have gone better. The prosecutor is not able to find any holes in Ammie’s story and the AIs declare her not guilty. In spite of the general excitement a few minutes after the trial is over the news is released that Ammie’s pimp was found dead in an old khem lab. The decay of his body indicates he’s been there for over a month. But by that time it’s too late. Ammie’s already gone. 

It’s discovered that the AIs couldn’t detect Ammie’s lies because of the high levels of khem in her system. Provided to her by her doctor upon Cervantez’s wishes, so she would appear more put together. Both Cervantez and the prosecutor are confident there’ll be another trial one way or the other. Cassandra’s colleague is worried about the repercussions on the project while Cassandra is the only person who believes Ammie can change and hopes she can find an obscure part of the country to hide in.