The Keys to the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Trial: What Arguments Did the Jury Consider?

After a six-week trial, a Virginia civil jury ruled for about 12 hours on the defamation allegations made by Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard. This Wednesday afternoon the jury awarded more than $ 10 million in compensation to Deppalthough it has also found merits for Heard’s counterclaim, awarding her $ 2 million in damages.

The process included sordid testimonies with explicit details of the short and unstable marriage of the movie stars. But what was it really about and what was the jury to decide?

Depp’s cause

Depp filed a $ 50 million libel suit against Heard, claiming that an editorial she wrote, published in 2018 in the Washington PostIt damaged his reputation and damaged his career. In the article, Heard described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.

He did not mention Depp by name, but his lawyers argued that it was clear he was referring to the actor, as she had publicly accused him of domestic violence during the 2016 divorce proceedings.

Heard’s attorneys said most of the article focused on public policy on domestic violence and that he had the right to free speech to intervene on that issue. They also claim that Depp actually abused Heard.

allegations of abuse

During the trial, Heard described more than a dozen specific cases in which he says that Depp abused her, including his accusation of sexually assaulting her with a bottle of liquor in a fit of alcohol fueled rage.

Depp denied any physical or sexual abuse and says Heard made up the claims to destroy his reputation. He also claimed that she physically attacked him on multiple occasions.

The work of the jury

The seven-member jury had to decide whether two excerpts from the article and the title were defamatory. The jury verdict form gave them instructions on how to determine it.including a question about whether the statements about Depp were false and had a defamatory implication on him.

Since Depp is a public figure, discovering that Heard had slandered him, the jury had to conclude that Heard had acted with “true malice”in the sense that he knew that what he had written was false or that he had acted with reckless contempt for the truth.

The jury came out in favor of Depp on all three counts, finding that Heard acted maliciously. Heard’s attorneys had told the jury that Depp’s defamation charge would fail if Heard suffered a single abuse.

Heard’s Cause

Heard filed a $ 100 million counterclaim against Depp after a former lawyer for the actor called his allegations a hoax.

The counterclaim received less attention during the trial, but a Heard attorney told the jury that it provided them with an avenue to compensate Heard for the abuse Depp inflicted on her by orchestrating a smear campaign after they broke up.

The jury verdict form asked the jury to decide whether Depp’s former attorneyas Depp’s agent, he made or posted three statements involving Heard, which were false and which were seen by someone other than Heard.

The jury also had to decide whether Depp’s lawyer made the statements with genuine malice. The jury concluded that Heard was vilified by one of her statements, in which the lawyer claimed that she and some friends had “poured some wine and screwed up the place to correct their stories,” and called the police.

Source AP

CJL