Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, convicted by a jury in January of four counts of defrauding investors in her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup, appeared in federal court in San Jose on Thursday seeking to have the verdict thrown out, with no new trial, but the judge in a preliminary ruling denied her bid.
“The evidence does support the jury’s findings,” Judge Edward Davila said, adding that he would review arguments made Thursday in court by the defense and prosecution, and earlier court filings from both sides, before issuing a final decision in writing as soon as he could.
Holmes lawyer Amy Saharia told Davila after he issued the preliminary decision that her team planned to try again to overturn the jury’s findings, based on “new evidence.” The category of legal motions Saharia referred to suggested that any further attempts to dismiss the jury’s findings would, if successful, lead to a new trial, rather than a complete acquittal.
