I want to capture some time here."īy "capture some time," Davila meant, you know, bring in the jury to hear a witness testify.īut instead, Davila allowed the legal bickering to continue. "I should have started this at 8," he told the lawyers.
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"A trial lawyer needs to make a judgment whether to make an objection in front of a jury," he said, "and a judgment was made." The explanation did little to refute the judge's point, but the debate continued.Īt 9:08, Davila noticed that it was past the appointed hour to call in the jury. At one point Davila reminded Wade that he hadn't objected when prosecutors introduced one of the very pieces of evidence he was now trying to exclude. But in Davila's courtroom, it was merely an invitation to discuss the matter further - which the two sides continued to do for several more go-rounds.
In any other courtroom, that would signal that the judge had made up his mind to shut Wade down. "There's case law here that says you can't do that," he declared, seeming to reject Wade's request. At one point in the discussion, the judge appeared to reach a firm conclusion.
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But as so often happens, last week's session served as a showcase for Lance Wade, the most spirited and argumentative of Holmes' defense team, who has figured out how to play the judge like a clever 3-year-old dragging out his bedtime.Īs he often does, Wade had introduced a far-fetched legal feint - insisting that the prosecution play full video clips of media appearances by Holmes, not edited snippets - knowing full well that Davila would take his sweet time mulling it over. Such pretrial sessions are intended to resolve essential and often contentious questions: hashing out when witnesses will be called, say, or bickering over what can be introduced into evidence. by hearing from prosecutors and the defense about any matters they want to discuss before the jury enters the courtroom at 9 a.m. Davila, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Obama in 2011, tends to begin each day at 8:30 a.m.
Take the comically slow start over which he presided on October 26, the one day court was in session last week. Wherever he's headed, the judge is in no hurry to get there. But a big reason behind all the delays can be traced to one man: Judge Edward Davila, whose style might most charitably be described as plodding. It's partly bad luck: Last week a water pipe near the courthouse burst, causing the proceedings to recess for a full day. It's partly routine scheduling conflicts, like a death in a juror's family. As the criminal fraud trial of Elizabeth Holmes moves into its third month, the wheels of justice appear to be turning more slowly than ever.
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