For six weeks, the defamation lawsuit filed by actor Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard has excited the nation, offering a rare case of high-profile and counter-accusations on #MeToo, including sinister allegations of physical violence that have been circulated in public. searchlight of the courtroom.
On Wednesday, a seven-member jury in Fairfax, Virginia, found Mr. Depp slandered by Ms. Hurd when she described herself in a 2018 publication in The Washington Post as a “public figure representing domestic violence.” Mr. Depp received more than $ 10 million in damages.
During the trial, Mr Depp vehemently denied Ms Hurd’s allegations that he had subjected her to repeated physical violence, including punching and punching her head and several cases of sexual assault. In a statement after the verdict, Mr Depp thanked the jury, saying it had “brought my life back”.
Ms. Hurd, who was in the courtroom during the sentencing reading, said in a statement afterwards that she was disappointed “beyond words” with their findings.
“I am heartbroken that the mountain of evidence is still not enough to counter the disproportionate power, influence and influence of my ex-husband,” she said.
Ms. Hurd did not seem inspired by the fact that the jury also awarded her $ 2 million in damages, agreeing that she had been slandered in one case by Mr. Depp’s lawyer. A spokeswoman for Hurd, Alafer Hall, said she planned to appeal.
Such cases are often decided out of court, in part to avoid public scrutiny. The bitter accusations and embarrassing details of the case were broadcast not only in open court, but also in front of cameras, which broadcast every accusation on television and live broadcasts, where they were turned into memes and discussed on social media.
The 2018 report that Ms. Hurd wrote never mentions Mr. Depp by name, but he says it clearly refers to their marriage, which began in 2015 and fell apart a little over a year later. late, and that it is fake. (His first drafts were prepared by the American Civil Liberties Union, where Ms. Hurd was an ambassador with a focus on women’s rights and gender-based violence.)
The jury agreed and found that it contained several false allegations and were made with real malice.
Ms Hurd launched a counter-investigation, claiming she had been defamed in 2020 when one of Mr Depp’s lawyers at the time dismissed her allegations of “fraud” in statements to a British tabloid. The jury found that Mr Depp had slandered Ms Hurd in a case where her lawyer accused her of damaging the couple’s penthouse and blamed Mr Depp for that.
The verdict came as a surprise to several legal observers, who noted that a UK judge ruled two years ago that there was evidence that Mr Depp had repeatedly attacked Ms Hurd. The decision came in a defamation lawsuit filed by Mr Depp after the British tabloid The Sun called him a “woman beater” in the headline. The judge in this case ruled that the defendants had shown that what they had published was “essentially true”.
Ms. Hurd, 36, maintained during the trial that everything written in the article was true.
The combination of stellar power, sensational details and cameras in the courtroom has turned the process into an internet craze. Memes and posts attacking Ms. Hurd, some created by super fans of Mr. Depp, have spread online. Ms. Hurd testified that she had received thousands of death threats since the trial began, calling the mockery “agonizing” online.
Occasionally bursting into tears on the stand, Ms. Hurd testified more than a dozen times that she believed Mr. Depp had been violent toward her. In a key incident in Australia in 2015, Ms Hurd said, Mr Depp became “militant” after taking the drug MDMA and assaulting her by grabbing her by the neck and at one point sexually assaulting her with an object that -Yes. It was later heard to be a bottle.
“I look him in the eye and I don’t see him anymore,” Ms. Hurd said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Makena White, a lawyer who advises people on the risks of publishing potentially contested allegations of sexual misconduct, said she was worried that online mockery of Ms. Hurd would reduce the likelihood of some coming out.
“The absolute destruction of Amber Heard will have an impact,” Ms. White said. “If you’re someone who’s worried about what might happen if you talk, it could have the same chilling effect we’ve been trying to reverse all these years.”
Others saw the online reaction as a harbinger of what the jury would decide.
“Now millions of Americans are weighing in as the evidence unfolds in court – you can take that as an indication of how the case is going,” said Imran Ansari, a lawyer representing Alan Dershovitz in defamation cases involving Virginia Juffre, who said she was a victim. of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and accused Mr Derschowitz of being part of it, which he denied.
Mr Depp, 58, gave a very different account of their relationship – and the trip to Australia – in which Mrs Hurd was the aggressor. Ms. Hurd, he testified, was once a friend who looked “too good to be true,” but became a partner who mocked him, called him derogatory names, hit him, and threw objects at him.
In Australia, he testified, she threw a handle with vodka, which exploded on his arm and cut off his finger. (She denies throwing the bottle at him and said she hit him only in self-defense or in defense of her sister.)
Johnny Depp’s defamation case against Amber Heard
Map 1 of 7
In the courtroom. The defamation lawsuit involving former married actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has just ended in Fairfax County Court in Virginia. Here’s what you need to know about the case:
Ms. Hurd’s option. Mr Depp’s lawsuit came in response to a publication Ms. Hurd wrote for The Washington Post in 2018, in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic violence.” Although she did not mention her ex-husband’s name, he and his lawyers said she apparently meant their relationship.
Allegations of domestic violence. In the 2020 trial, Ms. Hurd accused her ex-husband of assaulting her for the first time in 2013 after they began dating, and described in detail other cases in which he hit her, hit her in the head and he throws her to the ground. Mr Depp has since accused her of hitting, kicking and throwing objects at him.
The sentence. After a six-week trial, the jury found that Mr. Depp had slandered Ms. Hurd in her article, but also that she had been slandered by one of his lawyers. Mr Depp was awarded $ 15 million in damages and punitive damages, but the judge limited the total amount of punitive damages in accordance with legal limits to a total of $ 10.35 million. The jury awarded Ms. Hurd $ 2 million in damages.
In his testimony, Mr. Depp – a big star known for his films with director Tim Burton, including “Edward Hands of Scissors” and his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Disney franchise “Pirates of the Caribbean” – attributed the decline of his acting career due to the accusations of Mrs. Hurd.
“It’s very strange when one day you’re Cinderella, so to speak, and after 0.6 seconds you’re Quasimodo,” said Mr. Depp. “And I didn’t deserve that.”
Several witnesses called by Mr Depp’s lawyers challenged Ms Hurd’s accounts of violence, including police and the actor’s staff, who recalled that Ms Hurd looked unharmed when she reported bruising.
Others backed Mr Depp’s claim of reputational damage, including his agent, who testified that the actor had lost a $ 22.5 million deal to reprise his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise after the publication of the article. Mrs. Hurd. (A Disney production manager who testified said he had no reason to believe that the decision not to play Mr. Depp was related to the article.)
Several of Hurd’s witnesses, including her sister and a former make-up artist, testified that they saw Ms Hurd injured during the reported violence. The nurse, Whitney Henriques, said she saw Mr Depp actively hitting Mrs. Hurd while wearing a cast from a finger injury.
The Virginia proceedings often turned into a stage where the couple and many of their associates told some of the most intimate, embarrassing, and often contradictory stories about their relationship.
Mr. Depp’s texts refer to Ms. Hurd, using insults and obscene words such as “useless prostitute.” An audio recording of Ms. Hurd calling Mr. Depp “washed away” and “joke” and other recorded arguments in which they both seem to agree that they were violent with each other.
Mr Depp’s drug use and past opioid addiction have been mentioned frequently, but his lawyers have said he never claimed to be a saint – only he was not abusive.
“I can’t say I’m embarrassed,” Mr Depp said of the personal revelations required in the trial, “because I know I’m doing the right thing.”
Add Comment