Jurors began their deliberations Friday in the civil defamation trial between actors Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard, after six weeks of court drama that took the curtain off the troubled marriage of the stars.
Depp is suing Heard for $ 50 million in the Fairfax County Circuit Court of Virginia for an opinion piece he wrote in December 2018 in The Washington Post describes himself as “a public figure representing the ‘domestic abuse’.
Judge Penney Azcarate gave instructions to the jury Friday morning, before the final arguments of Depp and Heard’s attorneys began. 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 lawyer noted two passages in the article, as well as an online headline that says he defamed Depp, although the article never he did not mention his name.
“She didn’t mention her name. She didn’t have to,” Depp’s lawyer, Benjamin Chew, said. “Everyone knew exactly who and what Mrs. Heard was talking about.”
Amber Heard testified at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, United States, on defamation lawsuit in May 26, 2022. SWIMMING POOL / REUTERS
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.” 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 point of view to see, in real time, how the 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.”
Heard “ruined her life by falsely telling the world that she was a survivor of domestic abuse at the hands of Mr. Depp,” lawyer Camille Vasquez told the jury in the final arguments.
Heard’s lawyers argue that Heard cannot 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 themselves, but about how he changed his life. Heard after making them.
Heard filed a $ 100 million lawsuit against Depp after his attorney called his allegations a hoax. Although the counterclaim has received less attention at trial, Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, said it offers a way for the jury to compensate Heard for the abuse Depp has inflicted on him by orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
“We ask that you finally hold this man accountable,” he told the jury. “He has never accepted responsibility for anything in his life.”
Actor Johnny Depp testified during a hearing at Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Jim Watson / AP
Depp says she never beat Heard and that she made up allegations of abuse to gain an edge in divorce proceedings. He said he was often physically attacked by Heard.
Jurors have seen several photos of Heard with marks and bruises on his face, but some photos show only a slight redness and others appear to 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 Heartd’s closing, attorney J. Benjamin Rottenborn said the evidence on Heard’s abuse evidence 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.
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.
Depp hopes the six-week trial will help him restore his reputation, although it has become a show of a vicious marriage, with broadcast cameras in the courtroom capturing every turn towards an audience every once again dazed as fans applied to social media and lined up. night for the coveted court seats.