Depp, Hurd Jury returns Wednesday
Jurors in Virginia will resume Wednesday’s hearing on the multi-million-dollar defamation lawsuit filed by actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, Hollywood stars who have accused each other of abuse before and during their two-year marriage.
A seven-member jury weighed the evidence at around 7 a.m. Tuesday without ruling.
Depp, the 58-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star, is suing Hurd for $ 50 million and claims she slandered him when he called himself a “public figure representing domestic violence” in a newspaper.
Hurd, 36, has filed a $ 100 million counterclaim, claiming that Depp smeared her when his lawyer called her allegations “fraud.” Depp denied hitting Hurd or any woman and said she was the one who became violent in their relationship.
Depp and Hurd met in 2011 during the filming of “The Rum Diary” and were married in February 2015. Their divorce was finalized about two years later.
At the heart of the case is Hurd’s December 2018 opinion in the Washington Post, in which she made a statement about domestic violence. The article did not mention Depp by name, but his lawyer told the jury that it was clear that Hurd meant him.
During Tuesday’s hearing, jurors asked Judge Penny Azcarate if they should review the entire article or just the title. The headline says that Hurd “speaks out against sexual violence – and confronts the wrath of our culture.”
Azkarate said he would tell the jury that the title was the statement they needed to consider in order to reach their verdict.
During six weeks of testimony, Hurd’s lawyers claimed that she had told the truth and that her comments were covered by freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
During the trial, jurors listened to recordings of the couple’s battles and saw graphic photographs of Depp’s bloody finger. He said the top of his finger was cut off when Hurd threw a bottle of vodka at him in 2015.
Hurd denied injuring Depp’s finger and said Depp sexually assaulted her that night with a bottle of alcohol. She said she hit him just to protect herself or her sister.
The testimonies were broadcast live on social media, attracting a large audience to hear details about the couple’s troubled relationship.
Once one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Depp said Hurd’s accusations cost him “everything.” A new movie, Pirates, has been discontinued and Depp has been replaced in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Harry Potter Spinoff.
Depp lost a defamation lawsuit less than two years ago against The Sun after a British tabloid described him as a “woman beater.” A judge at the London Supreme Court ruled that he had repeatedly attacked Hurd.
Depp’s lawyers filed the lawsuit in the United States in Fairfax County, Virginia, because the Washington Post is printed there. The newspaper is not accused.
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