The idea that he was the manipulator is a "finding of fact" in legal parlance. She can't raise that on appeal. Maybe if the defense tried and the judge refused to allow it, that could be appealed as an "error" and thus appealed. Offhand I don't think that happened in her trial, but I could be wrong (?)
Only a new trial could bring that up. An appellate court could order a new trial; that happens sometimes.
And, of course, in the sentencing hearing, they can try to blame Sunny. I don't think that reduces her sentence to zero, if it works at all.
IANAL, so someone who is: feel free to correct me.
When you consider her (mostly old male) investors, especially that pervert Bill Clinton, they weren't charmed by her stilted personality or her bizarre sanpaku eyes. They were thinking with the little head.
Bill appeared on a discussion panel with her once and Hillary's 2016 Presidential Campaign cancelled hosting an event at Theranos HQ after the leaks on Theranos (lack of) progress became public.
Please don't bring partisan misandry to HN, we're better than this.
Maybe I am taking crazy pills, but even Unabomber at his unshaven peak (far from what most people would consider photogenic) was appearing more sane and photogenic than Holmes in her own promo photoshoots.
Agreed with your ultimate conclusion though. No matter how you stack the cards here, I had a gut feeling that she would make it out just fine, with Sunny being scapegoated as the "manipulator". Don't get me wrong, I believe he deserves at least just as much blame as Holmes. But he stood no chance.