The legal battle for Elizabeth Holmes seems to be nearing its conclusion. According to a ruling issued yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals steadfastly denied the former Theranos CEO's petition for a full en banc panel rehearing of her 2022 fraud conviction. In a notably succinct four-sentence order cited by Courthouse News, the court noted that "The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc, and no judge of the court has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc."
This setback leaves Holmes with scant options for challenging her conviction further. As CBS News San Francisco reports, her last avenue of appeal lies in petitioning for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, a path often fraught with difficulty due to the high number of writs sought and the selective nature of Supreme Court reviews. Holmes' request hinged on arguments that the appellate court's rejection of her earlier appeal contained significant factual mistakes and that the Ninth Circuit's use of the "harmless error" standard was ill-founded. However, the Ninth Circuit panel, consisting of U.S. Circuit Judges Jacqueline H. Nguyen, Mary M. Schroeder, and Ryan D. Nelson, did not entertain the arguments that had previously been considered and rejected.
Holmes was convicted on four counts of wire fraud against investors in a trial that scrutinized the veracity of Theranos' technology, specifically the Edison machine, which was purported to perform a wide array of medical tests using just a single drop of blood. The panel previously described her statements and those of her former partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani as "half-truths and outright lies," in alignment with the evidence presented at trial, as per CBS News San Francisco. These findings by the Ninth Circuit panel underscored the depth of deception, depicting Theranos' once-promising technology as nothing more than a "mirage."
Despite rigorous defense efforts to challenge both the verdict and subsequent rulings, Holmes' narrative has remained unaltered in the eyes of the appellate court. With the latest petition denied, Holmes' conviction, including her 11-1/4 years reduced prison sentence for good behavior, stands as decided. Currently serving her time at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, Holmes is slated for release in August 2032, barring further legal developments or intervention by the Supreme Court, according to CBS News San Francisco.
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