Jurors deliberated their first full day in Johnny Depp’s $ 50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard on Tuesday, while posting a question to the judge on how they should weigh the headline in the Washington op edition Heard’s post.
The headline of the online version of the December 2018 piece said “I spoke out against sexual violence and faced the wrath of our culture. That needs to change.”
Judge Penney Azcarate said jurors were wondering if they should consider whether the headline was defamatory or whether this should be related to “the content of the statement, everything in the opinion edition.”
“I think the confusion came in this particular because the statement in question is the title of the opinion piece, so I think they’re confused as to whether it’s the whole post or the title is the statement,” he said. “Clearly the title is the statement.”
In the jury’s verdict forms, the incumbent is one of three statements that the jury must evaluate to determine whether to rule on Depp. The seven jurors will also have to decide whether the statements in the content of the opinion are defamatory. One statement is: “Then, two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s anger at the women who spoke.” The other statement is: “I had the advantage of seeing, in real time, how the institutions protect men accused of abuse.”
Heartd’s legal team has noted that Depp is not mentioned in the edition or headline, but his legal team has argued that readers were clear about who his ex-wife was referring to in the piece.
While the content of Heard’s piece only referred to domestic abuse, and did not specify whether it was physical or emotional, the headline went a step further in its allegation of sexual violence.
During the trial, Heard claimed that Depp sexually assaulted her during an argument in March 2016, but Depp’s legal team spent considerable time trying to undermine that claim.
And while his legal team has noted that he did not write the headline of the opinion editor, a Post editor did, Depp’s side has focused on the fact that he tweeted the article without discuss the title.
Heard has also filed a $ 100 million counterclaim, and the jury is deliberating on its claims that it was defamed in three different cases, including Depp’s attorney’s statements.