Elizabeth Holmes trial: jury deadlocked on three charges

Jurors struggle to reach unanimous verdict on three charges after 46 hours of deliberation

Elizabeth Holmes faces 11 total charges. Bloomberg

Jurors weighing the fate of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, on trial for fraud, said on Monday they are deadlocked on three of the 11 charges.

The jury of eight men and four women sent a note to the judge saying they could not reach a verdict on all the charges and did not specify which ones they were.

Ms Holmes is facing three counts of defrauding patients who paid for Theranos tests, six counts of defrauding investors and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Judge Edward Delia, who is presiding over the case, instructed the jury to continue deliberations to try to reach a unanimous verdict.

If the jury remains deadlocked, the judge may allow them to deliver a partial verdict.

Judge Delia also read aloud a portion of the instructions given to the jurors regarding Ms Holmes's presumed innocence, “unless or until the government proves her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt”, CNN reported.

The jury has spent roughly 40 hours so far deliberating since being handed the case on December 23.

Elizabeth Holmes has been on trial since September and spent seven days in the witness box. AP

Since then, they have asked the judge two questions: one asking to take the jury instructions home, which was swiftly rejected, and one asking to listen to some audio recordings of Ms Holmes allegedly misleading investors.

When they 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. No reason was given for pausing the deliberations earlier than expected last week.

Ms Holmes has been on trial since September and spent seven days in the witness box.

She rose to Silicon Valley fame after founding Theranos in 2003, with wealthy private investors including media mogul Rupert Murdoch investing millions in the company after meeting with the founder, who was known for her Steve Jobs-like black turtleneck.

Theranos collapsed after The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles that suggested the company's devices were flawed and inaccurate.

Ms Holmes was indicted in 2018 alongside Theranos's former chief operating officer, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, who has pleaded not guilty and will be tried at a later date.

The Associated Press contributed to this report