Holmes Jury Says It Is Deadlocked on 3 Counts

Judge tells them to keep deliberating
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 3, 2022 8:00 AM CST
Updated Jan 3, 2022 2:17 PM CST
After 43 Hours of Deliberations, Holmes Jury Is Back at It
Elizabeth Holmes walks into federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 16, 2021.   (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

Update: The jury in the Elizabeth Holmes case was sent back to the deliberation room Monday after they told the judge they were deadlocked on three of the 11 fraud counts against the former Theranos CEO. The jurors—who began deliberations before Christmas—didn't say which of the counts they were unable to agree on, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Judge Edward. J. Davila read the jury a deadlock instruction after receiving their note. Santa Clara Law professor Ellen Kreitzberg tells ABC that a mistrial could be declared on the three counts if the deadlock continues, but the judge could still accept verdicts on the other eight counts. Our story from earlier today follows:

After an extended holiday break, the jury weighing fraud charges against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will get back to work Monday. When the eight men and four women who will determine Holmes' fate were still unable to reach a verdict by the middle of last week, the jurors were given Thursday off before an already scheduled court holiday on Friday, reports the AP. They hadn't provided any inkling where they stood in their deliberations last week after sending two notes to the federal judge presiding over the case the previous week. The jury so far has spent a total of roughly 40 hours (by the New York Times' count, it's been 43 hours) across six days discussing the charges against Holmes, who faces up to 20 years in prison if she's found guilty.

The jury will now spend its seventh day trying to decide if Holmes was a crook. The 37-year-old is facing 11 criminal charges alleging that she duped investors and patients by hailing her company’s blood-testing technology as a medical breakthrough when in fact it was prone to wild errors. The Times reports the deliberation period to date isn't an unusual one, at least in terms of "complex fraud cases in which defendants are charged with multiple counts that span multiple years." It holds up media tycoon Conrad Black as an example: The jury deliberated for 12 days in 2007 before returning a guilty verdict. His was also a 14-week trial, and he faced 13 counts. As former federal prosecutor Amanda Kramer puts it to NPR, "Remember, for the jury, there's just a lot to remember over a four-month trial."

(More Elizabeth Holmes stories.)

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