The main reason why jury selection in high profile cases take so long is because they are high profile cases. Obviously having an expensive defense team changes things but the main thing that eliminates the most jurors is if they have preexisting knowledge and opinions on the case. When those cases come up they get a much larger jury pool and eliminate many with a questionnaire. That takes time. In a low profile case even with a smart and rich client jury selection won’t take that long. The number of peremptory exceptions are still capped and the judge won’t allow either side to blow through the pool without cause.
Yup. When a main character ends up on jury duty they’ll probably believe the defendant is innocent while the rest of the jurors want to convict.