Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s jury will return today
Virginia jurors on Wednesday will resume deliberations on multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuits filed by actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, Hollywood stars who have accused each other of abuse before and during their two-year marriage.
A seven-person jury suspended the test for about seven hours on Tuesday without reaching a verdict.
Depp, the 58-year-old “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, sued Heard for $ 50 million and argued that he defamed him when he was called “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in an article opinion of a newspaper.
Heard, 36, sued for $ 100 million, saying Depp insulted her when her lawyer called her allegations “deceptive.”
Depp has denied hitting Heard or any woman and said it was she who became violent in their relationship.
Depp and Heard met in 2011 while filming “The Rum Diary” and were married in February 2015. Their divorce materialized about two years later.
During Tuesday’s deliberations, jurors asked Judge Penney Azcarate whether they should consider the entire article or just the headline. The headline said Heard “spoke out against sexual violence and confronted the anger of our culture.”
Azcarate said he would tell the jury that the headline was the statement they should consider to reach their verdict.
During six weeks of testimony, Heard’s lawyers argued that she had told the truth and that her comments were covered as free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Reuters)