Jack Sharman Quoted in National Media Coverage of Elizabeth Holmes Trial
September 13, 2021
Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC partner Jack Sharman is quoted in recent media coverage of the high-profile Elizabeth Holmes trial. Holmes, founder of the now failed biotech company Theranos, faces criminal fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly lying about the capabilities of her company's technology.
As the trial kicked off, The Recorder (published by American Lawyer Media) turned to Sharman for a legal perspective regarding the influence on juries of today's streamable true-crime content and whether jurors’ decision-making is affected by realizing they are involved in the next chapter of a scandal. He also discussed whether the judge in the case might consider this when weighing requests to dismiss a potential juror.
"It would be hard to predict how it’s going to affect it, but there’s no doubt that there is sort of a 15-minute-fame effect in this kind of case," Sharman told The Recorder. "A lot of judges who, especially in a COVID or post-COVID era, are really looking for jurors are very reluctant to agree with you that it is cause to strike [a juror] because she likes true-crime podcasts."
Sharman was also quoted in a recent article by TheWrap about the viability of Holmes’ domestic abuse defense.
"Most white-collar defendants are middle-aged white men. A young female defendant is unusual, so that may cause the government and the defense to rethink some narratives in what is best for them,” he told the publication.
Media outlets often turn to Sharman for legal insight and analysis of white-collar criminal cases and related investigations. He leads Lightfoot's White-Collar Criminal Defense & Corporate Investigations practice and has served as special counsel in numerous high-profile matters, including the Whitewater investigation of President Bill Clinton, the impeachment investigation of a former Alabama Governor and an ongoing probe into actions by former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election.
