Dr. Shiva Akula, whose Federal trial entailing 23 counts of alleged Medicare fraud, commenced in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans on Monday, October 30, 2023.
When we published Segment Two of USA v. Dr. Shiva Akula yesterday (Tuesday, October 31, 2023), we indicated that prosecuting attorneys were trying to prepare the jury for upcoming witnesses who were likely to be viewed by the jury as having integrity and/or credibility issues but who would be absolutely crucial to the prosecution’s case.
They attempted to do so by having witnesses with no integrity or credibility issues whatsoever (most notably Dr. William Blalock) to, “tell us about the good side and the bad side…” of two witnesses in particular: Kelly Anderson and Sue May. We indicated that the prosecutors were attempting to soften the “shock value” that the jury would inevitably likely be exposed to once those two witnesses were placed on the stand today (Wednesday, November 1, 2023).
Well, it was a necessary strategy in our opinion because the concerns appeared to be quite legitimate; furthermore, there was a third such witness, Dr. Akula’s nephew, Joshua Bruce, who, in our firm opinion, the prosecution would have been better off to have left alone in Fresno, California and not have called at all.
We can only surmise that they felt a definitive need to attempt to shore up the feared jury-perception credibility and/or integrity concerns of the tandem of Anderson and May and that Bruce would provide at least an incremental advancement in that regard.
While Bruce did provide some potentially damning testimony (with one statement which corroborated testimony by a previous nurse practitioner, Ms. George) entailing Dr. Akula, the animosity held by both George and Bruce toward Akula was oftentimes palpable and barely concealed at all on the witness stand.
Furthermore, we believe Bruce provided testimony about himself which, in our opinion, came across very unfavorably. Furthermore, in responding to questions by defense counsel on cross examination, Bruce provided testimony quite favorable to Dr. Akula, his obvious animus toward him notwithstanding. In our opinion, he was a net negative for the prosecution team.
Now let’s view an overview of Wednesday’s court proceedings entailing USA v. Shiva Akula:
Overview of Day 3 of USA v. Shiva Akula transpiring in Federal Court in New Orleans in Judge Lance Africk’s courtroom.
Judge Africk concluded today’s proceedings by indicating, “there’s plenty more to come!” We’ll be there to cover it (especially since no other media outlet is), and we’ll report on day four (4) of the trial most likely within 7-8 hours of it wrapping up tomorrow.
CLICK HERE for the day 3 minute entry by the court.