After a six-week trial in which Johnny Depp and Amber Heard delved into the unpleasant details of their short marriage, both sides told the jury the same Friday: they want to get their lives back.
Heard “ruined her life by falsely telling the world that she was a domestic abuse survivor at the hands of Mr. Depp,” Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez told the jury in the final arguments of her defamation lawsuit against her ex-wife.
Meanwhile, Heartd’s lawyers said Depp ruined Heartd’s life by launching a smear campaign against her when she divorced him and publicly accused him of assault in 2016.
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“In Mr. Depp’s world, don’t leave Mr. Depp,” said Heard’s attorney, J Benjamin Rottenborn. “If you do, he will launch a global humiliation campaign against you.”
Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez, said Heard “ruined his life.” Credit: Steve Helber / AP
Depp hopes the trial will help him restore his reputation, even though it has become a show of a vicious marriage, with broadcast cameras in the courtroom capturing every turn to a growing audience. dazed as fans took to social media and lined up overnight for coveted. audience seats.
“This case for Mr. Depp has never been about money,” Depp’s lawyer, Benjamin Chew, said. “It’s about Mr Depp’s reputation and releasing him from the prison where he has lived for the last six years.”
Depp is suing Heard for $ 50 million in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court for a 2018 opinion piece he wrote in The Washington Post describing himself as “a public figure representing the domestic abuse “.
His lawyers say he was defamed for the article even though he never mentioned his name.
Actor Johnny Depp makes a gesture to the audience in court after the final discussions. Credit: Steve Helber / AP
Heard filed a $ 100 million counterclaim against the former Pirates of the Caribbean star after his lawyer called his allegations a hoax.
Although the counterclaim has received less attention at the trial, Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, said it offers a way for the jury to compensate Heard for the abuse Depp inflicted on him even after they separated by orchestrating a discredit campaign.
“We ask that you finally hold this man accountable,” he told the jury. “He has never accepted responsibility for anything in his life.”
The seven-person civil jury began its deliberations at 3 p.m. on Friday and ended the day about two hours later. They will resume on Tuesday.
Depp says she never hit Heard and she made up the allegations of abuse. He has said that he was physically attacked by Heard several times.
Actor Amber Heard hugs lawyer Elaine Bredehoft after final discussions. Credit: Steve Helber / AP
“There’s an abuser in this room, but it’s not Mr. Depp,” Vásquez said.
During the trial, Heard testified about more than a dozen episodes of physical and sexual assault that he said Depp inflicted on him.
Vásquez, in his closing remarks, noted that Heard had to review his testimony about the first time he said she was beaten.
Heard said Depp hit her after she accidentally laughed at one of her tattoos. Heard initially said it happened in 2013, after a fairy-tale year of courtship and romance, but later corrected himself to say it happened in 2012, very early in their relationship.
“Now, in this room, a whole year of magic has suddenly disappeared,” Vásquez said.
Johnny Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez, gives the final arguments. Credit: Steve Helber / AP
Jurors have seen several photos of Heard with marks and bruises on his face, but some photos show only a slight redness and others show more severe bruises.
Vásquez accused Heard of manipulating the photos and said the evidence that Heard has embellished some of his wounds is proof that all of his allegations of abuse are unfounded.
“Either you believe everything, or nothing,” he said. “Either she’s the victim of horrible and ugly abuse, or she’s a woman willing to say absolutely anything.”
At the closing of Heard, Rottenborn said evidence of Heart’s abuse ignores the fact that there is overwhelming evidence on her behalf and sends a dangerous message to victims of domestic violence.
“If you didn’t take pictures, it didn’t happen,” Rottenborn said. “If you took pictures, they’re fake. If you didn’t tell your friends, they’re lying. If you told your friends, they’re part of the deception.”
And she rejected Vasquez’s suggestion that if the jury believes Heard could embellish a single act of abuse they should ignore everything she says. He said Depp’s defamation suit must fail if Heard suffered even a single incident of abuse.
“They’re trying to trick you into thinking that Amber has to be perfect to win,” Rottenborn said.
Amber Heard actor Benjamin Rottenborn’s lawyer said Depp’s defamation suit must fail if Heard suffered even a single incident of abuse. Credit: Steve Helber / AP
When the jury deliberates, it will need to focus not only on whether there was abuse, but also on whether Heard’s Opinion article can be considered legally defamatory. The article itself focuses primarily on political issues of domestic violence, but Depp’s attorney points to two passages in the article, as well as an online headline that says he defamed Depp.
In the first passage, Heard writes that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse and felt the full force of the wrath of our culture.”
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Depp’s lawyers say this as a clear reference to Depp, since Heard publicly accused Depp of domestic violence in 2016, two years before he wrote the article.
In a second passage, he states, “I had the very rare view of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.”
The headline online says “Amber Heard: I spoke out against sexual violence and faced the wrath of our culture.”
“She didn’t mention her name. She didn’t have to,” Chew said. “Everyone knew exactly who and what Mrs. Heard was talking about.”
Heard’s lawyers said Heard could not be held responsible for the headline because he did not write it and that the two passages in the article do not talk about the allegations of abuse in themselves, but about how he changed his life. ‘Heard after making them.
Rottenborn told jurors that even if they tend to believe Depp’s claim that he never abused Heard, he still can’t win his case because Heard has the right of the First Amendment to intervene in matters of public debate.
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