In a filing made on Thursday, the jury found that they will reconvene on Monday, January 3, after deliberating for six days. The eight men and four women involved were already scheduled to be off on Friday, which is a federal court holiday for New Year’s Eve. No explanation for the extended holiday break was given.
This break comes after a closed-door meeting was held that raised questions. The in-camera hearing was between Holmes attorneys Kevin Downey and Lance Wade, although she herself was not present. The 23-minute hearing was also attended by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila and prosecutors Jeffrey Schenk and Robert Leach.
The transcript of the hearing has been sealed and further details will not be publicly disclosed. Despite this, speculation has been made that the hearing involved discussions of potential plea agreements. However, this has yet to be confirmed.
Holmes is facing 11 criminal charges that stem from her company Theranos. She is accused of defrauding patients and investors into taking part in the blood-testing startup, despite major errors not being addressed in the actual testing process. Despite testimony in the trial lasting over 15 weeks, experts said that a verdict is not likely to be determined on its sixth day of deliberations.
“The difference in this case versus a case of someone dealing cocaine is if you’re caught with a suitcase of cocaine, that’s a problem,” former federal prosecutor Brian Klein told NPR. “Whereas here, running a startup, trying to develop a new technology for blood testing, that’s all very legal. The question becomes ‘what were you thinking when you were doing these things?’ And that’s really hard to get to.”
The eight men and four women on the jury have been meeting in a San Jose, California, federal courthouse after absorbing reams of evidence in a three-month trial that captivated Silicon Valley.
Last week, the jury sent out two notes to U.S. District Judge Edward Davila—one making a swiftly rejected request to take their instructions home with them for further study and another that that allowed them a replay of a 2013 recording of Holmes discussing Theranos’ dealings with prospective investors.
The jurors haven’t provided any clues as to how far along they are in their deliberations during their first two days of ongoing discussions this week.
The case has attracted worldwide attention. At its core is the rise and fall of Holmes, who started Theranos as a 19-year-old college dropout and then went on to break through Silicon Valley’s male-dominated culture with her bold claims and fundraising savvy. She become a billionaire on paper before it all evaporated amid allegations she was more of a charlatan than an entrepreneur.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
