The second and third are two men who were accused of raping and killing a young boy named Daniel Lewin as part of a suspected child pornography ring.

The suspected child murderers, Lawrence Monk and Arthur Cooms, attracted the attention of two police officers when they were driving slowly late at night.

As there is a vacancy present, one of the judges, James Culhane, had committed suicide earlier, Hardin participates in two of the Star Chamber proceedings, and the assassin is dispatched to kill two other unrelated murderers who were released on technicalities despite their own confessions.

After receiving a phone call that Dr. Lewin has committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills while in jail, Hardin contracts the assassin to murder Monk and Cooms.

Police detective Harry Lowes (Yaphet Kotto) learns from a car thief named Stanley Flowers that three men were actually responsible for the crime.

Hardin decides to make an effort to stop Monk and Cooms from being killed, so he tracks them down in an abandoned warehouse and attempts to warn them.

[13] Hyams said "I wanted first and foremost to make a film that is connected to an issue, not whether a bunch of judges getting together and ordering people's deaths is a credibility problem.

"[17] Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Peter Hyams has shown himself, with films like Busting, Outland, and Capricorn One, to be a stylish, flippant director, capable of generating a great deal of suspense as well as action scenes that really pack a wallop.

The Star Chamber, which opens today at Loews Tower East and other theaters, begins so excitingly that Mr. Hyams appears to have outdone himself.

It was on DVD in 2005, and then on Blu-ray on May 28, 2013, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and is and has since the 2010s been available online through Apple's iTunes Store downloadable application and Amazon's, Vudu's and YouTube's websites.