Last time on Slick Science, we heard first-hand accounts of life after a monumental oil spill. But what happens after marine life dies and beaches are left covered with oil? Who is responsible for footing the cleanup bill? How much? And who decides? 

In this episode, we get to be a fly on the wall of a courtroom where 12 ordinary Alaskans learn why a tanker the size of three football fields crashed and decide whether to punish Exxon for spilling millions of gallons of oil in Prince William Sound.

As jurors and lawyers navigate the trial, questions are raised about the wisdom of having a jury hear this kind of case. Jurors aren’t experts and don’t have the scientific or economic expertise to muddle through something so big. So why would they be asked to decide this outcome?

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