Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes tries again to keep lab failings from jury

Lawyers for Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes made a last-ditch effort to eliminate some evidence prosecutors can use ahead of the former CEO’s highly anticipated criminal-fraud trial.

Ms. Holmes’s lawyers argued Friday that U.S. District Judge Edward Davila should exclude from the trial seven news articles about Theranos and Ms. Holmes, limit testimony from doctors who had used Theranos’s lab tests, and redact large portions of reports from government agencies that had penalized Theranos while it was in operation. They have made these requests repeatedly.

The judge, who has rejected previous attempts to exclude the material, didn’t rule on the requests Friday. Jury selection in the case starts Aug. 31; opening arguments are set to begin Sept. 8.

Government prosecutors and Ms. Holmes’s lawyers have argued over which evidence and how much of it should be allowed in the proceedings. Ms. Holmes’s attorneys have argued for narrowing the thousands of pages of evidence brought by the government and disputed whether testimony from patients who received inaccurate Theranos lab tests, internal company emails and details about Ms. Holmes’s wealth should be admissible.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes arrives at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building to attend a federal court hearing in San Jose, California, U.S. May 4, 2021. REUTERS/Kate Munsch (REUTERS/Kate Munsch)

Ms. Holmes faces a dozen counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for what federal prosecutors say was a scheme to defraud investors and patients about the nature of Theranos’s technology. The blood-testing startup closed in 2018 after raising nearly $1 billion from investors with a pitch to reinvent the laboratory testing business by creating a machine that could test for a wide range of health conditions using a few drops of blood.

Ms. Holmes, who gave birth last month to a baby boy in Redwood City, Calif., appeared in court Friday for the second time this week. A separate trial for Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, a former Theranos executive and Ms. Holmes’s ex-boyfriend, who faces the same dozen charges, is slated to begin early next year. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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The Wall Street Journal first reported in 2015 that Theranos’s proprietary technology was unreliable and the company often ran tests on commercial analyzers. The inaccurate results from the Theranos tests at times created traumatic health events for patients and confusion for doctors.

An attorney for Ms. Holmes, Patrick Looby of Williams & Connolly LLP, asked that certain news articles be omitted from trial because, “they each contain reporting that parrots The Wall Street Journal reporting,” which he said amounted to hearsay. Government prosecutors objected, saying the demand was premature as the government wasn’t sure when or if it would mention the articles in trial.

Judge Davila, who wore a mask and sat behind plexiglass, a change from his barefaced appearance on Monday, said there was merit in the defense waiting to see if the news articles came up in trial before making their…