Nobody was caught off guard on Monday when Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes took the stand at the federal courthouse in San Jose.
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Dozens lined up outside before dawn, stretching to the First Street sidewalk well before Holmes, 37, was scheduled to take the stand (9 a.m.) and even earlier than when she actually did (10:45 a.m.). Media and the masses mixed, all of them gathered for the same reason.
To see – and hear – Holmes' second day of testimony in her highly anticipated trial, as she faces 11 counts of defrauding and conspiring to defraud investors, doctors and patients. If convicted, she could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison.
Holmes spoke in front of a fuller house than on Friday. Only about 35 people got a seat in the courtroom on Monday, with another 40 or so filling an overflow room a floor below.
Many observers in the latter room had already made up their minds about Holmes, thanks in no small part to the sheer tonnage of reporting on Theranos' rapid rise and faster fall.
Spectators discussed a tweet from John Carreyou – who literally wrote the book on Holmes – announcing his attendance in an almost reverential tone.
One couple, a pair of Roseville educators, had prepared for months to spend the first day of their Thanksgiving vacation at the trial.
Another stopped at the courthouse before a flight to Los Angeles, grumbling that Holmes didn't testify as soon as scheduled.
A Sunnyvale man claimed he'd cast a skeptical eye toward Theranos' too-good-to-be-true technology well before Carreyou and others' revelatory reporting disproved the company's claims.
There were regulars, too. Crissy, a Santa Cruz woman who rattled off her attendance at the trial’s milestone moments, found familiar faces among onlookers and reporters alike. Monday was her first time back at the courthouse since a bike accident 10 days ago.
All of them hung on each and every one of Holmes' words during almost two hours of testimony.
Spectacle was limited to Holmes' entrance and exit, cameras clicking as she walked hand in hand with her mother, Noel, and husband, Billy Evans. Holmes' testimony was far more substantive, yet no less captivating, to the assembled crowd.
Yes, Holmes sounded like she had in any number of her previous, endlessly dissected media appearances. No, she didn't wear a turtleneck.
Holmes was deliberate and controlled as she discussed studies' encouraging results. She sat upright at the edge of her seat, her gaze focused largely on lead attorney Kevin Downey and shifting only when she was asked to explain certain terms to the jury. Holmes testified that she trusted Theranos' doctors and scientists, whom she claimed told her how, and how well, the company's technology worked.
"I understood that the four series could do any blood test," Holmes said of an email, from the company's top scientist, referring to the fourth version of Theranos' testing machine.
Prosecutors allege Holmes was willfully deceptive about Theranos technology, and they likely won't cross-examine her until next week at the earliest. Barring another unexplained delay of almost two hours, as was the case on Monday, Holmes is set to testify from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
The court certainly seems to anticipate another attentive audience then. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, in what he called a "familiar refrain," again brought up attendees' typing volume. Davila said if loud typing continued to be disruptive, he would ask individuals to leave the courtroom.
If Monday's lines were any indication, there will be no shortage of people to take their place.
When Holmes is on the stand, how can anyone look away?
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