“I knew she had started a company,” Ms. Stefanek stated. “I knew that it had failed. I knew she liked to wear black turtlenecks. That was about it.”
Ms. Holmes’s trial began with opening statements on Sept. 8. That began a brand new routine for Ms. Stefanek: She typically awoke at 5 a.m. to squeeze in some work and pack lunch for her 12-year-old daughter earlier than driving from Mountain View, Calif., the place she lives, to the San Jose courthouse.
During testimony, Ms. Stefanek stated, she took 541 pages of notes. At instances, she stated, jurors struggled to remain awake. Other instances, they have been shocked to see star witnesses like James Mattis, the retired four-star Marine Corps basic and former protection secretary, who had served on Theranos’s board.
“When he walked in the door, I kind of felt this rustle in the room and I couldn’t believe it,” Ms. Stefanek stated. “I was actually more excited about him than I was about Elizabeth Holmes, just because I knew who he was before.”
Over time, the trial’s schedule turned more and more unpredictable. Judge Edward J. Davila of the Northern District of California, who presided over the case, tacked on additional courtroom periods and prolonged days in courtroom, which initially have been scheduled to finish at 2 p.m., to three p.m. after which to four p.m.
That “made it hard for me to commit to things at work” and “made it more challenging to get some things done,” Ms. Stefanek stated, including that her supervisor at Apple was understanding.
After closing arguments concluded in December, the jury started deliberating a verdict. They had a technique for discussions, Ms. Stefanek stated, recapping every witness’s testimony on sheets of paper that have been hung round the fifth-floor courtroom the place they frolicked when the trial was not in session. They additionally enlisted the courtroom deputy, Adriana Kratzmann, to make photocopies of 1 juror’s handmade worksheet that listed the standards for a conviction on every depend.
