Outside Topic Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes indicted

[gailtate]

She got support from Stanford stalwarts George Schultz and Channing Robertson.

George Schultz, for all his street smarts, business eminence and personal distinction, revealed stunningly poor judgement here. You can't make this up. Not only taking the Theranos bait hook, line, and sinker, but doubling down on his bets with a public legal feud with his son who was desperately trying to extricate the old man from this cluster.

grandson, wasn't it?

'Twas.

[82lsju]

Stanford University law school professor Robert Weisberg believes Holmes has two potential avenues for a mental-condition defense: claiming her judgment was affected or that she acted under duress. If the former, her argument “will be laid out in terms of something like her mental distress clouded her judgment so she didn’t truly form the intent to commit the crimes” perhaps because of an “overwrought or emotional state” that meant she didn’t think through the possibility that others could be harmed, Weisberg said. “You have to somehow connect the dots that the state of emotional distress … made it psychologically impossible to form the intent,” he said.

If Mechanic is to testify that Holmes acted under duress, Weisberg and other legal experts said the psychologist may focus on Holmes’ relationship with Balwani. “There may be some kind of effort at a ‘Svengali defense,'” Weisberg said, referring to a legal tactic named for a seductive, domineering character from a 19th century novel. “It would have to be in support of the claim that she was facing an immediate and extremely specific threat that harm would come to her if she didn’t do the criminal acts.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/11/d...=Geotagged

[paloalto]

Holmes better hope I'm not on her jury if she goes with the first proposed approach.  I'd listen to the arguments, listen to the forensics psychiatrists, and follow the court instructions.   However, it would be a uphill battle to convince me that over a decade an intelligent person couldn't reflect on the concept her product and all her bogus test results weren't doing harm.

I understand when the facts aren't in your favor you have to try something.