Shortly after starting its seventh full day of deliberations, the jury in Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial informed the court that it cannot reach an unanimous verdict on three of the 11 counts. It is not known which of the 11 charges of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud against patients and investors that the jury is deadlocked on.
After additional deliberation for a few hours, the jury informed the court Monday afternoon that it was still deadlocked and could not reach an unanimous verdict on the three counts.
Lawyers in the case disagreed on how Judge Edward Davila should handle the deadlocked jury. Federal prosecutors argued that the jury should be sent back for more deliberation with a standard instruction on how juries should proceed in such situations, while Holmes' lawyers felt like the additional instruction would be coercive.
Davila decided to read additional instructions to the jury and instructed them to continue their deliberations, but with no rush. He also re-read the jury instruction at the defense's request that Holmes is presumed innocent. Monday marked the seventh full day of the jury's deliberations — that's not counting a half-hour session at the end of closing arguments — following the four-month trial of Holmes. Long jury deliberation times are typical in white-collar crime cases.
This post was updated at 3:30p.m. PT with news of a continued deadlock.