Theranos · The Emmys · Sacklers
You folks will tell me when you're sick of the Jeff German story, right?
the true crime that's worth your time
“The clock is ticking for Ms. Holmes on her liberty.” That’s a quote from former Santa Clara County prosecutor Steven Clark, a legal analyst who’s deeply familiar with the world in which Theranos operated (and didn’t). Clark said this while speaking with Ethan Baron, the Bay Area journalist who’s set the pace on coverage of her case — if you’re reading national coverage of the matter, it’s likely that the writer is relying on Baron’s work.
It must be an interesting time for Baron, who’s lived with Holmes and co. in the day-to-day for years and years now, unlike anyone else except maybe John Carreyrou — but even Carreyrou wasn’t expected to bang stories out a few times a week. There’s a strange, almost post-partum feeling you get when a case like this finally comes near a close. I’m super-curious if he’s feeling sad, or relieved and eager to move on. Maybe I should just ask him if he wants to talk about it with us! Would that be interesting?
Anyway, Baron’s piece from today for the Bay Area News Group is related to the matter Sarah told you about last week, that former Theranos lab director/witness for the prosecution Adam Rosendorff showed up at Holmes’s house last month and allegedly claimed his testimony was twisted by the prosecution.
(If you’re wondering if Rosendorff was in The Dropout, the answer is “kind of,” as it’s commonly assumed that the Mark Roessler character, played by Kevin Sussman, is a fictionalized version. The Cinemaholic has a good post explaining the arguments behind that assumption.)
Since Sarah wrote that odd visit up, the Holmes team has filed two more motions to toss her convictions, which means there are three outstanding requests out there for a whole new trial for Holmes, at least one of which might be the real deal.
Holmes’ first motion Wednesday, claiming federal prosecutors used arguments in Balwani’s trial that would have led jurors in her trial to acquit her, could be counterproductive, said Stanford Law professor Robert Weisberg. “There is no formal legal error in presenting arguably inconsistent evidence or characterizations of defendants in separate sequential trials,” Weisberg said. “As a general matter each conviction stands on its own. I could … imagine Davila being annoyed by this.”
However, Davila, who presided over Holmes’ four-month trial, is likely to take seriously the second motion Holmes’ legal team filed Wednesday, legal experts said. Her lawyers claim the prosecution broke the “Brady rule” legally requiring prosecutors to hand over information helpful to the accused.
Holmes’ prosecutors hid emails showing they failed to preserve a database of patient test results, her team alleged. The database issue, after hours of pre-trial squabbling over who was responsible for the disappeared data and whether it showed or disproved fraud, did not rise to prominence in Holmes’ trial. And although the motion might not sway Davila, the allegation that the prosecution concealed important information could play better on appeal, Clark said.
“Brady violations are something that the appellate courts do not like,” Clark said.
Right now, Holmes is set to be sentenced on October 17, but these filings might delay that session if Judge Edward Davila decides any are worth a hearing. The wildest possibility is that he might decide that Holmes does indeed deserve a new trial, either because of Rosendorff’s visit or the alleged Brady transgressions. According to Clark, the combination just might be enough to send everyone back to the starting line, or at least “delay Ms. Holmes’ sentencing,” which means that Baron will remain on the Holmes beat for months, if not years, to come. — EB
Elizabeth Holmes might be angling for a win in court, but fake Elizabeth Holmes is already a winner. The 74th annual Emmy Awards were announced last night, and two of its top acting awards went to folks in true crime properties: the Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie honor went to Amanda Seyfried, who played Holmes in The Dropout; this year’s Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie was Michael Keaton, in Dopesick.
…and that was pretty much it for true crime last night, as — as expected! — the wins mainly went to folks from fully fictional shows. You can see a full list of winners at Variety. — EB
As long as we’re on awards, here’s a new movie on the the Sackler pharmaceutical scandal that’s likely worth watching for. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed doesn’t appear to have a trailer yet, but you can find clips like this one on Dailymotion to give you a taste of what’s it’s all about.
The director is Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and the angle is an interesting one: specifically, how artist Nan Goldin spent years agitating against the Sackler family, whose company, Purdue Pharma, created OxyContin and is largely credited with (blamed for?) the opioid epidemic in the U.S.
It won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice International Film Festival over the weekend, at which Poitras dedicated her win to Goldin, the cofounder of PAIN (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now). According to a Pioneer Works report:
“P.A.I.N. began from my learning about the Sacklers’ involvement with the opioid crisis through Patrick Radden Keefe’s story for the New Yorker,” Goldin explained first. She read that watershed article in 2017 while in recovery at the age of sixty-two, after nearly dying from an overdose related to her OxyContin addiction, which developed after she was prescribed the drug following an injury. Goldin spent two months in treatment in rural Massachusetts.
Upon leaving, she had a feeling similar to one she felt in 1989, after another time in rehab—that she was witnessing a generation being wiped out by a plague. Certainly, the trauma Goldin experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s endures—and in many ways seems to be repeating itself. ACT UP was a direct response to the institutionalized homophobia that so greatly intensified the AIDS crisis, which was driven in part by the ravages of years of conservative rule in the U.S. and increasing violence against gay people. Once again, in 2017, Goldin observed a group of people dying from governmental neglect, and she decided to do something.
Just a couple weeks ago, HBO and Neon announced that they’d distribute the film, which sounds like it rests firmly in the intersection of art, activism, and the criminal enterprise that was the opioid epidemic. It “will hit theaters this fall followed by an ancillary and digital release,” Deadline reported in August, but film fest fans might get to see it sooner: after its Venice premiere, it’s set to screen at the New York Film Festival and at TIFF. Given how well opioid-related content just did at the Emmys, one can safely predict this movie on many an Oscars list. — EB
I’m sorry I keep writing about the slaying of Jeff German, but it’s turned into a full-on obsession for me and until you (politely) tell me to stop, I’m staying with it. But this Daily Beast story is too fascinating to pass up: a direct conversation with the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s five-member team tasked with covering German’s case, and how they’re approaching the man that officials say likely killed their colleague and friend.
The story is a quick read, don’t worry: it’s not one of those interminable oral histories of, like, the genesis of Scooby Doo. Here’s a snip:
Some of her colleagues focused on some odd, angry, and often spiteful tweets directed at German by one man: Telles, a 45-year-old Democrat who serves as Clark County’s public administrator. It wasn’t out of the norm for journalists to receive threats over their work, Erickson said, pointing to voicemails that she said were worse than what Telles tweeted at German.
But the attacks led reporters and editors to search Telles’ address on Google Maps, where they found a photo of the vehicle that matched the police description in his driveway.
It was that revelation that led editors to assign reporters to stake out the house, hoping to get a glimpse of the car to confirm it. Reporters then drove past Telles’ house, where they captured photos of Telles washing his car just hours after police described the car. Police later carried out a search warrant on Telles’ home the next morning while he wasn’t home, and Telles’ car was towed just before 1 p.m. Wednesday.
In other words, these alleged wacky tweets sent reporters to the suspect’s house long before the police identified his as a suspect, and they continued to stake out his home during a stand-off prior to his arrest.
It’s all such a strange thing, investigating a crime that happened to someone you know while working to maintain objectivity and professionalism. None of us gets into the crime coverage business to report on our friends, and I am hopeful the folks at the Vegas paper will have an opportunity to rest and process their loss some time soon. — EB
Wednesday on Best Evidence: More Emmy conversation!
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