SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Even with a possible verdict hanging over her head, Elizabeth Holmes appeared cool, calm, and collected as she walked to the federal courthouse in San Jose Thursday.
The jury tasked with deciding Holmes’ fate has deliberated for three full days, for a total of 24 hours. Jurors quietly left the courthouse at 3:20 p.m. without reaching a verdict.
Holmes will be home for Christmas and deliberations will resume Monday morning.
Holmes is charged with 11 criminal counts of fraud and conspiracy. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Legal analyst Michele Hagan said the longer the jury deliberates, the higher her chances are of the jury finding her not guilty, or failing to reach a verdict.
During deliberations, jurors asked the judge two questions. The first was a request to bring jury instructions home, which the judge denied.
“All deliberations must occur in the jury room,” United States District Judge Edward Davila said.
The second question was far more illuminating of what 12 jurors are debating as they struggle to reach a unanimous verdict.
The jury asked to re-listen to a 2013 phone call Holmes made with Theranos investors. The call was secretly recorded by Bryan Tolbert, one of the investors who Holmes is charged with defrauding.
Prosecutors said Holmes lied several times in the recording.
Hagan said the tape is damaging evidence against Holmes because it allowed prosecutors to use Holmes’ own words against her.
On the call, Holmes gives a glowing financial outlook for her Silicon Valley biotech company and claims Theranos is worth $7 billion.
Ex-Theranos finance manager So Han Spivey testified that the company was hemorrhaging money. Theranos had net losses of $11 million in 2009, $16 million in 2010, and $27 million in 2011.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Schenk said in closing arguments, “Theranos was running out of money. Holmes had a choice to make. She could watch Theranos slowly fail, or she could make a different decision. Holmes made a decision to defraud her investors and patients. That choice was not only callous, it was criminal.”
Theranos did not have “miraculous breakthroughs” developing new blood testing technology, but Holmes wanted everyone to believe that it did, Bostic said.
Holmes’ motive was to save herself from becoming a failure in Silicon Valley, Bostic said.
The tricky part for jurors as they listen to the tape is deciding whether Holmes to speaking in present tense or future tense. Her defense attorneys said Holmes was honestly telling long-term investors about what her company’s goals and future financial possibilities were.
Prosecutors say the tapes expose Holmes lying to investors about what her company had already accomplished.
Holmes won over high-powered, sophisticated investors including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, former U.S. Secretary of State James “Mad Dog” Mattis, and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz.
Perhaps she can win over a jury as well?
Holmes was the star witness of her own defense. She testified on the stand for seven days, blaming everyone around her at Theranos for what went wrong.
In the trial’s most dramatic moment, Holmes broke down in tears.
Theranos collapsed after its technology flaws were exposed in 2015 and 2016. Federal prosecutors charged Holmes and Sunny Balwani — the former COO of Theranos and Holmes’ ex-boyfriend — with conspiring together.