The court’s stenographer in Johnny Depp’s defamation case against Amber Heard has said jurors forced to spend hours of video deposition would often fall asleep.
Judy Bellinger revealed what she observed about the jury in the great battle for defamation in recent weeks.
But she arrived when she was accused of bias after a photograph of her laughing with the Pirate actor came out after the testimony ended.
After less than three days of deliberation, the jury ruled in favor of Depp’s three defamation charges against Heard, finding that she had falsely accused him of domestic abuse.
The quick verdict reached the culmination of the six-week trial that was the OJ Simpson case for Generation Z: a show that was cut and played on TikTok in clips that were viewed tens of millions of times.
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In an interview, stenographer Judy Bellinger spoke about what she observed about jurors at the Johnny Depp trial against Amber Heard.
Bellinger, who transcribed the lengthy trial, said the jury was listening “very carefully” throughout the trial (pictured smiling at Depp)
Amber Heard supporters said Bellinger’s images of Depp embracing her were proof that she was not impartial.
It was the second time the ex-husband and wife had clashed in court: Depp lost a defamation case against a British newspaper in London’s High Court in 2020, where a judge ruled that it was “substantially true” that he was a wife abuser.
Bellinger, a stenographer for the private company Planet Depos that transcribed the lengthy trial, told Law and Crime that the jury was listening “very carefully” throughout the trial.
Bellinger said when the jury was elected it was known that some would end up as alternates and would not decide on the verdict and that she knew who the names of the alternates were from the beginning.
But he said he did not remember the alternate numbers and throughout the six-week trial, one jury in particular highlighted him as the “best jury” for his attention.
In the end, that jury ended up being one of the alternatives chosen at the beginning of the trial.
“Unfortunately, the alternative out there was probably the one you listened to the most,” Bellinger said. “I looked at his facial expressions, he was deep in every word that was said and I thought he would have been a great jury and he didn’t get to see it until the end.”
Both Depp and Heard each testified for four days, including a forensic examination of opposition lawyers.
Johnny Depp intervened in $ 100 million defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard
For six weeks in Fairfax, Virginia, Depp called 38 witnesses while Heard called 24. Depp and Heard met on the set of the 2011 film The Rum Diary, appearing together on the red carpet for at its London premiere in 2011.
Bellinger recalled the jury’s exasperated reaction to discovering it was an alternative and said it felt the same way.
‘I was like oh man! she was going to be the best jury! ‘ she said.
Bellinger said the alternate jury also highlighted him because, unlike the others, he never fell asleep.
“There were a few jurors asleep,” Bellinger said. “Never fell asleep”
He said jurors in both ranks faded at times, imitating jurors with their hands raised and their heads closed and their eyes closed as hours of deposition passed.
“It was hard because there was a lot of video deposition. They just sat there and all of a sudden I saw them falling head over heels,” he said.
His interview came after a video of Bellinger embracing Depp on the last day of the trial was released.
Bellinger denied allegations that she “split” with Depp and her legal team and told Law and Crime that Depp had asked to meet with her after arranging to pick up her team to transcribe the case. lawyer for actor Ben Chew.
He said he ended up meeting at the hotel where Depp’s team was staying where he met Depp in a hotel room after the end of the trial.
“Johnny was in there, so I had to go in there and grab my gear, and I saw him, and they said, ‘He really wants to meet you,'” Bellinger said. “I was probably there less than 10 minutes, and he hugged me and thanked me again. And I hugged a couple of people over there, grabbed my gear and went out, left, and went home.
Amber Heard supporters said Bellinger’s images of her hugging Depp were proof that she was not impartial.
There are also images of Bellinger smiling at Depp in court that were widely shared.
Both Depp and Heard each testified for four days, including a forensic examination by opposition lawyers.
The jury saw dozens of texts, photos, videos, medical records and even pages from the former couple’s ‘Love Journal’ that were written between them.
The defamation case was so complicated that the verdict sheet had 42 questions that the jury had to answer before pronouncing the verdict: 24 questions for Depp’s claims and 18 for Heard’s counterclaim.
The jury ended up in favor of Depp’s three defamation lawsuits against Heard and was awarded $ 15 million – $ 10 million in compensation and $ 5 million in punitive damages.
Heard won only one of her three counterpart claims, which were related to Depp’s attorney’s statements suggesting she and her friends had ruined her apartment before calling police.
She was awarded $ 2 million in compensatory damages for the $ 100 million she was seeking in her lawsuit against her ex-husband and received $ zero in punitive damages.
The judge later reduced Depp’s $ 5 million in damages to Virginia’s $ 350,000 maximum, reducing Depp’s total to $ 10,350,000, less the $ 2 million he was ordered to pay. a Heard.