Elizabeth Holmes makes her case to the jury in fraud trial

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Elizabeth Holmes, the one-time medical entrepreneur now charged with building a fraudulent company based on promises of a revolutionary technology, returned to the witness stand Monday.

Her testimony, which focused largely on her enthusiasm based on positive early tests of that blood-testing technology, may be her best shot to avoid conviction on charges of criminal fraud. Prosecutors alleged she duped investors and patients into believing she had invented a breakthrough in blood-testing technology.

Monday’s proceedings resumed after a roughly 90-minute delay, with Holmes again at the witness stand wearing a cobalt dress with a black blazer. She spent most of her time describing clinical studies and other records extolling the effectiveness of a small blood-testing device made by Theranos, a startup she founded in 2003 after dropping out of Stanford University at 19. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila didn’t explain why he met with lawyers from both sides of the case behind closed doors while a masked audience sat in a packed courtroom.

Holmes’ latest round of testimony came after her lawyers called her to the stand during Friday’s proceedings in what has been the most dramatic moment of a high-profile trial that began in early September.

Anticipation of Holmes’ return to the stand Monday drew a large crowd outside of the San Jose, California, courthouse where the trial is occurring, with the first person lining up around 1 a.m. PT. The people who got into the small courtroom Monday included one of Holmes’ biggest foils — former Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, who wrote a series of explosive articles that triggered Theranos’ collapse and the ensuing criminal case.