UPDATE: Broken Water Main in San Jose Cancels Elizabeth Holmes Trial Proceedings
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A water main break a few blocks from the federal courthouse in San Jose on Wednesday has abruptly canceled proceedings for the trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes for the rest of the week.
The water main break happened about three blocks away from the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to KPIX reporter Len Ramirez.
Elizabeth Holmes #Theranos trial cancelled for the rest of the week because of a water main break in downtown San Jose. Here's the story: pic.twitter.com/T2hXS80xuV
— Len Ramirez (@lenKPIX) October 27, 2021
Ramirez said the judge in the trial was meeting with attorneys outside the the presence of the jury when he learned the courthouse had no water. The judge then called in the jurors back into the courtroom and dismissed them for the remainder of the week.
The trial, which has already been running behind schedule, will now be further delayed.
"I think this is going to affect the prosecution the most," said former prosecutor and legal analyst Steve Clark. "Their case appeared to be building momentum and they appeared ready to deliver a knock-out blow. So what this does now is give the defense a chance to get their legs back under them and get ready for next week. So they have a lot of time now to prepare."
The water outage is the latest in a series of trial setbacks that could impact the jury.
Three jurors have already been dismissed, the latest for playing the puzzle game Sudoku during testimony.
"That's concerning for the parties in the case that maybe they need to tighten
up the testimony, speed things up a little bit or this jury is going to start to wander," Clark said.
On Tuesday, testimony in the fraud trial gave a glimpse into how the billionaire Devos family was enticed into a major investment with Theranos, the biotech company Holmes founded in 2003.
The DeVos family -- who made a fortune with Amway -- were part of an exclusive group of billionaire investors who were hand-picked by Holmes to back her startup, according to testimony.
Lisa Peterson, who manages investments for the DeVos family corporation RDV, testified that in 2014, Elizabeth Holmes offered the family an exclusive opportunity to privately invest in Theranos.
Peterson said the family was ready to put down $50 million, but after a meeting with Holmes in which she claimed her device could do hundreds of blood tests, was being used by the military and Walgreens, and was validated by 10 major pharmaceuticals, the family doubled its investment to $100 million.