After 23 days of witnessing painted conflicting images of a tumultuous Hollywood marriage, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s attorneys filed their final arguments Friday, trying to persuade the jury that their client had been the person who was abused and defamed.
The lawyers of Mr. Depp claimed that his movie star client had been falsely despised in a Washington Post opinion piece in which Ms. Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
The lawyers argued that the allegations of domestic abuse to which he referred, had ruined Mr.’s life. Depp.
“We ask you to bring Mr. Depp back to life by telling the world that Mr. Depp is not the aggressor that Ms. Heard said he is,” said Camille Vasquez, Mr. Depp’s lawyer. Depp, “and keep Mrs. Heard.” responsible for their lies. “
The lawyers of Mrs. Heard responded that not only were the allegations and the opinion completely true, but during the court proceedings in 2020, the actress was unfairly defamed when a lawyer, representing Mr. Depp at the time described his allegations of abuse as a hoax. .
“In Mr. Depp’s world, don’t leave Mr. Depp, and if you do, he will launch a global humiliation campaign against you,” argued a lawyer for Ms. Depp. Heard, Ben Rottenborn.
Now the case is in the hands of seven jurors.
The trial at Fairfax County Circuit Court has drawn widespread attention because the proceedings have been televised and broadcast live via a pair of cameras in the courtroom, a rarity in Virginia. A YouTube channel that streamed the proceedings, called Law & Crime Network, reported that more than a million users were watching.
There has been fierce competition to fill public seats in the courtroom, with observers, most of them fans of Mr. Depp, queuing up in the middle of the night to secure a spot. On Friday morning, about 150 people lined up to enter the courtroom, with hundreds more walking down a nearby road, some dressed as the characters in Mr. Depp.
Peyton Elmendorf, a 27-year-old Depp fan, said that when she first heard about Ms. Heard, had suspicions about the actor’s defense given the #MeToo movement. But now, after hearing other romantic couples from the actor speak positively about him, she said she felt confident in expressing her support.
“I knew he didn’t,” he said.
Dan Kim, 26, outnumbered but not persuaded, kept a sign quietly saying “I’m with Amber.” He said it was “very clear” that Mr. Depp had abused Mrs. Heard.
Ultimately, the jury must consider the veracity and reputational impact of a small set of statements. But the six-week trial has included testimony on a wide variety of alleged incidents of Mr.’s marriage. Depp and Mrs. Heard.
Mrs. Heard has accused Mr. Depp of repeated physical abuse, which she said often coincided with drug and alcohol use, and began accusing her of infidelity. She has also alleged several cases of sexual assault, including the accusation that she was assaulted with a bottle in Australia in 2015.
Mr. Depp has denied sexually assaulting or assaulting Ms. Heard and portrayed her as the abuser of the relationship, recalling her violence throughout their relationship, as well as angry diatribes and humiliating insults. Mrs. Heard has denied hitting Mr. Depp except in defense of herself or her sister.
Witnesses to the incidents often involved sensational details: celebrity disputes, graffiti written in blood, and a piece missing from Mr. Finger’s finger. Depp who forced the fifth film “Pirates of the Caribbean” to stop production.
In exposing the highlights of his evidence, Mr. Depp reminded the jury of witnesses who said they saw no injuries to Ms. Heard in the moments when he reported having them, showed a picture of him with a “brilliant” he said. she gave him and played the audio of the discussions between the separated couple in which Mrs. Heard admits to having beaten Mr. Depp. In an audio clip, Ms. Heard can be heard saying, “I started a physical fight,” challenging her claim that it only hit Mr. Heard. Depp as defense. (Ms. Heard testified that in these cases she was beaten in response to her own assault.)
His team also noted cases where there were no medical records or photographs to corroborate his allegations of abuse.
“The ‘mountain of evidence’ that Mr Depp abused Mrs Heard is simply not there,” Mrs argued. Vasquez. “What we have is a mountain of unproven allegations that are wild, exaggerated and unlikely.”
Ms Heard’s lawyers described witnesses who said she had told them about the abuse. Mr. Rottenborn played a video of Mr. Depp angrily tapped the kitchen cabinets and showed the jurors a text in which the actor told Mrs. Heard that he had gone “too far in our struggle.” He then showed the jury a photo of Mrs. Heard with a red mark on his face after, he said, Mr. Depp threw him a phone. Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, another of her lawyers, reminded the jury of a forensic psychologist who said she reviewed a therapist’s notes, which were not presented as evidence, reflecting Mrs. Heard’s contemporary reports where complained of sexual abuse.
“A sentence against Amber here sends a message that whatever you do, as a victim of abuse, you should always do more,” Mr. Rottenborn. “No matter what you document, you always have to document yourself more. No matter who you tell, you always have to tell more people. “
The publication that is at the heart of Mr. Depp is the opinion of Ms. Heard, which was led and prepared by the American Civil Liberties Union. Mrs. Heard did not name Mr. Depp in the article, however, has argued that it clearly alluded to their relationship, damaged her reputation and “devastated” her acting career.
Johnny Depp’s defamation case against Amber Heard
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In the courtroom. A defamation suit involving formerly married actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is underway at Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia. Here’s what you need to know about the case:
The opinion of Ms. Heard. The demand of Mr. Depp came forward in response to an opinion piece that Ms. Heard wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 in which he described himself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Although she did not mention her ex-husband’s name, he and her lawyers have argued that she was clearly referring to their relationship.
Domestic abuse claims. At the 2020 trial, Ms Heard accused her ex-husband of assaulting her for the first time in 2013 after they started dating, and detailed other cases in which she was slapped and beaten. he nodded and threw her to the ground. Since then, Mr. Depp has accused him of punching him, kicking him and throwing objects at him.
The jury is also in charge of determining whether Mr. Depp defamed Mrs. Heard in 2020 when a lawyer representing him made statements to discredit his allegations of abuse, including one that accused Ms. Heard and his friends for putting Mr. Depp when one of them called the police at the couple’s house. (Prior to the call, Ms. Heard testified, Mr. Depp had thrown a phone at her close range, slapping her in the face, which Mr. Depp denies.)
The demand of Mrs. Heard stated that Mr. Depp, through these statements, “launched a national campaign” to discredit her. Mr. Depp stated that he had not seen the statements in question until the lawsuit was filed.
In a previous trial in London, a judge found that Mr. Depp had assaulted Ms. Heard repeatedly throughout their relationship. The 2020 trial in Britain revolved around a lawsuit that Mr. Depp filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers, the editors of The Sun, a British sensationalist newspaper, and Dan Wootton, the newspaper’s executive editor, for a 2018 headline that described Mr. Depp of “wife”. beater. ”
The jury’s verdict in this case must be unanimous, but the court must not find convincing evidence “beyond any reasonable doubt,” as in a criminal case. Each party has the burden of proving with the greatest weight of the evidence that they had been defamed, and that there was clear and convincing evidence that the other party had acted with real malice while defaming them.
Jurors are also tasked with determining how much money either side deserves if they win. Mr. Depp has asked for $ 50 million and Ms. Heard has asked for $ 100 million.
Mr.’s team Depp tried to portray him as honest, as a person who was open in his testimony about his drug use and his struggle with an opioid addiction.
“Mr. Depp is not a saint, “said one of his lawyers, Benjamin Chew.” But he is not a violent abuser. “
Mrs. Vasquez, lawyer for Mr. Depp, urged the jurors not to choose and choose which of the many accusations of Ms. Heard believed, and said to them, “Either you believe all or nothing.”
But Mr. Rottenborn, counsel for Ms. Heard responded that the jury did not even have to scrutinize the allegations to find that the statements in his opinion piece, including that he became a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” were true. and protected by the First Amendment.
He also argued that the jury only had to find that Ms. Heard had once been abused, including emotionally or psychologically, to establish that she was telling the truth.
“If Mr. Depp mistreated Amber even once,” he said, “then he wins.”