The request of the Chief Executive of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk’s order to have his upcoming securities fraud trial moved from San Francisco has been denied by a judge, who defeated a spirited argument that Musk faced a biased jury pool in the Bay Area.
The decision means the high-profile civil trial is moving forward with jury selection next week.
Musk contended that the jury pool was biased against him, noting that about 200 jury questionnaire returns showed that 82% of all prospective panelists in the Bay Area had a negative opinion of the billionaire.
The trial centers on Musk’s tweets in 2018 about taking Tesla private. His lawyer argued about the bias he faced in San Francisco regarding his use of the social media platform, and his honesty, and he insisted that his reputation in the city was damaged by negative reports about the creation of Twitter Inc. ., which he bought in October for $44 billion.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen expressed confidence during a hearing Friday that an impartial panel could be selected — and recounted how a fellow judge in a nearby courthouse was able to assemble an “impartial” jury for the Theranos Inc. founder’s criminal trial. Elizabeth Holmes.
“The proof is in the pudding,” Chen said. While Musk’s lawyer pointed out the negative response to the questionnaire, “Mr. Musk has a lot of fans out there.
Some questionnaire answers were neutral and others were mixed, while some potential jurors “were not too hot on how to handle Twitter,” Chen said.
Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, emphasized that amid the media controversy surrounding Musk, “we don’t think we can get a fair trial in this district, period, period.”
“The media reports are character assassination,” Spiro added. The “feel and tenor” of “character reporting” is about “humans making firing decisions” on Twitter. He said it “cannot be dismissed through the evidence” presented in court.
Musk’s attorney suggested the trial could be moved to Texas, where Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin about a year ago.
Rarely do cases, especially civil lawsuits, get transferred to other districts because of pre-trial publicity, said Tim Crudo, a security and criminal defense attorney. “You really have to show that the jury pool is so tainted that you can’t get a fair trial.”
Investors cited Musk’s August 2018 tweets about taking on the electric car maker with “safe funds” as “undeniably false” and costing billions of dollars by spurring changes in Tesla’s stock price. Musk stated that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to support his efforts to take Tesla private.
Musk’s request to change the location of the trial resulted in a heated and sarcastic exchange between Musk’s attorney and the attorney representing the investors. The shareholders said in court filings that none of the prospective jurors worked at Twitter, and that only two or three potential panelists knew people who worked at the company.
“The potential for bias arising from Musk’s management of Twitter is non-existent,” he said. In other court filings, Musk said he drew negative attention everywhere, including Texas. They pointed to a story last month in the Austin Chronicle listing Musk as Austin’s No. 1 “worst resident.”
Chen panned the idea of transferring the case to Austin, saying that the city has no connection to the case.
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