After the first two weeks of the Brocade trial that may last up to two months, the sole development of note remains the potentially damaging testimony of a former human resources employee that Brocade exec Greg Reyes told her that “it’s not illegal if you don’t get caught.” (Click here for our prior post on this testimony).
Nevertheless, given the high-profile nature of this case, the media has judged newsworthy a number of other developments, notably, the multiple unsuccessful mistrial motions made by defense counsel (including one apparently based on Judge Breyer’s demeanor), Judge Breyer’s sua sponte limiting of the scope of defense counsel’s cross examinations; and a brief remark uttered by a juror to a member of the defense team during a break in the proceedings. Away from the Brocade trial, a number of less-notorious stock option backdating cases have either been dismissed or are settling for relatively nominal amounts, suggesting that the Brocade case is more of a circus side show than a portent of other, similar trials to come.
