Johnny Depp Jury Finds That Amber Heard Defamed Him in Op-Ed

For six weeks, the defamation case that the actor Johnny Depp filed in opposition to his ex-wife Amber Heard transfixed the nation, providing a uncommon occasion of high-profile #MeToo fees and countercharges, together with lurid accusations of bodily abuse, being hashed out within the public highlight of a courtroom.

On Wednesday, the seven-person jury in Fairfax, Va., discovered that Mr. Depp had been defamed by Ms. Heard when she described herself in a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Publish as a “public determine representing home abuse.” Mr. Depp was awarded greater than $10 million in damages.

In the course of the trial Mr. Depp had fiercely denied Ms. Heard’s accusations that he had subjected her to repeated bodily abuse that included punching and head-butting and a number of other cases of sexual assault. In an announcement after the verdict Mr. Depp thanked the jury, saying that it “gave me my life again.”

Ms. Heard, who was within the courtroom because the verdict was learn, mentioned in an announcement afterward that she was dissatisfied “past phrases” by their discovering.

“I’m heartbroken that the mountain of proof nonetheless was not sufficient to face as much as the disproportionate energy, affect, and sway of my ex-husband,” she mentioned.

Ms. Heard didn't appear buoyed by the truth that the jury additionally awarded her $2 million in damages, agreeing that she had been defamed in a single occasion by a lawyer for Mr. Depp. A spokeswoman for Ms. Heard, Alafair Corridor, mentioned she deliberate to attraction.

Such instances are sometimes settled out of courtroom, partially to keep away from public scrutiny. The bitter fees and embarrassing particulars on this case have been aired not solely in open courtroom, but additionally earlier than cameras that beamed each accusation onto televisions and livestreams, the place they have been became memes and debated on social media.

The 2018 op-ed that Ms. Heard wrote by no means talked about Mr. Depp by title, however he argued that it clearly referred to their marriage, which started in 2015 and fell aside simply over a 12 months later, and that it was false. (Early drafts of it have been ready by the American Civil Liberties Union, the place Ms. Heard was an envoy with a give attention to ladies’s rights and gender-based violence.)

The jury agreed, and located that it contained a number of statements that have been false, and have been made with precise malice.

Ms. Heard countersued, claiming that she had been defamed in 2020 when certainly one of Mr. Depp’s attorneys on the time had dismissed her accusations as a “hoax” in statements to a British tabloid. The jury discovered that Mr. Depp had defamed Ms. Heard in a single occasion, when the lawyer accused her of damaging the couple’s penthouse and blaming it on Mr. Depp.

The verdict got here as a shock to a number of authorized observers, who famous {that a} choose in Britain had dominated two years in the past that there was proof that Mr. Depp had repeatedly assaulted Ms. Heard. That ruling got here in a libel swimsuit that Mr. Depp had filed after The Solar, a British tabloid newspaper, referred to as him a “spouse beater” in a headline. The choose in that case had dominated that the defendants had proven that what they printed was “considerably true.”

Ms. Heard, 36, maintained all through the trial that every thing written within the op-ed was true.

The mixture of star energy, sensational particulars and cameras within the courtroom turned the trial into an web obsession. Memes and posts attacking Ms. Heard, some created by superfans of Mr. Depp, proliferated on-line. Ms. Heard testified that she had acquired 1000's of demise threats because the begin of the trial and referred to as the web mockery “agonizing.”

Typically breaking into sobs on the stand, Ms. Heard testified about greater than a dozen occasions that, she mentioned, Mr. Depp was violent towards her. In a key incident in Australia in 2015, Ms. Heard mentioned, Mr. Depp grew to become “belligerent” after taking the drug MDMA and attacked her, grabbing her by the neck and, at one level, sexually assaulting her with an object that Ms. Heard later decided to be a bottle.

“I’m wanting in his eyes and I don’t see him anymore,” Ms. Heard testified. “I’ve by no means been so scared in my life.”

Mackenna White, a lawyer who counsels folks as to the dangers of publishing probably contested accusations of sexual misconduct, mentioned she apprehensive that the web mockery of Ms. Heard would make some much less prone to come ahead.

“Absolutely the destruction of Amber Heard goes to have an effect,” Ms. White mentioned. “Should you’re somebody who’s apprehensive about what might occur in case you communicate out, this might have the identical chilling impact that we’ve been attempting to reverse all these years.”

Others noticed the web response as a harbinger of what the jury would determine.

“You've gotten now thousands and thousands of Individuals weighing in as proof unfolds in courtroom — you'll be able to take that as a sign of how the case goes,” mentioned Imran Ansari, a lawyer representing Alan Dershowitz in defamation fits involving Virginia Giuffre, who mentioned she was a sufferer of Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse trafficking operation and accused Mr. Dershowitz of being a part of it, which he denies.

Mr. Depp, 58, gave a vastly completely different account of their relationship — and of the journey to Australia — wherein Ms. Heard was the aggressor. Ms. Heard, he testified, had as soon as been a girlfriend who appeared “too good to be true,” however became a associate who would taunt him, name him demeaning names, punch him and throw objects at him.

In Australia, he testified, she threw a deal with of vodka that exploded on his hand and severed his finger. (She denies throwing the bottle at him and mentioned she solely ever hit him in self-defense or in protection of her sister.)

In his testimony, Mr. Depp — a significant star identified for the movies he made with the director Tim Burton, together with “Edward Scissorhands,” in addition to for his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise — attributed the decline of his performing profession to Ms. Heard’s accusations.

“It’s very unusual when in the future you’re Cinderella, so to talk, after which in 0.6 seconds you’re Quasimodo,” Mr. Depp testified. “And I didn’t deserve that.”

A number of witnesses referred to as by Mr. Depp’s attorneys challenged Ms. Heard’s accounts of violence, together with law enforcement officials and workers of the actor who recalled that Ms. Heard appeared unhurt at occasions when she reported to have had bruises.

Others bolstered Mr. Depp’s declare of reputational harm, together with his agent, who testified that the actor had misplaced a $22.5 million deal to reprise his position within the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise after Ms. Heard’s op-ed was printed. (A Disney manufacturing govt who testified mentioned she had no cause to consider the choice to not forged Mr. Depp was associated to the op-ed.)

A number of of Ms. Heard’s witnesses, together with her sister and former make-up artist, testified to seeing accidents on Ms. Heard across the time of reported abuse. The sister, Whitney Henriquez, mentioned that she noticed Mr. Depp actively hitting Ms. Heard whereas carrying a forged from his finger damage.

The proceedings in Virginia typically grew to become a stage the place the couple, and lots of of their associates, recounted a few of the most intimate, embarrassing and sometimes contradictory accounts of their relationship

Texts from Mr. Depp referred to Ms. Heard utilizing insults and obscenities like “nugatory hooker.” An audio recording captured Ms. Heard calling Mr. Depp “washed up” and a “joke” and different recorded arguments wherein each appear to agree that they have been violent with one another.

Mr. Depp’s drug use and previous habit to opioids have been introduced up regularly, however his attorneys argued that he by no means claimed to be a saint — simply that he wasn’t an abuser.

“I can’t say that I’m embarrassed,” Mr. Depp mentioned of the non-public disclosures required within the trial, “as a result of I do know that I’m doing the suitable factor.”