Image Source: Getty / Matt Roberts
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s libel trial reached a verdict on June 1, during which a seven-person jury in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court discovered the latter liable for 3 counts of defamation towards Depp and Depp accountable for one rely of defamation towards Heard, Time confirmed. The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, and $2 million in compensatory damages to Heard.
Now, roughly six months later, the Los Angeles Times experiences that Heard is interesting the court docket’s resolution. According to the outlet, Heard’s attorneys declare there have been “quite a few errors dedicated at trial,” together with “permitting the case to be heard in Virginia and refusing to permit communications between Heard and sure medical doctors to be admitted as proof.”
Heard filed her attraction with the Court of Appeals in Virginia on Nov. 23, and in it, her authorized group alleges that California was the one acceptable place for the defamation trial to happen. The attraction states that Virginia was a “fully inconvenient discussion board” with “each events and many of the truth witnesses . . . positioned in California, with none of them positioned in Virginia,” per the LA Times. Other claims within the attraction embody that Depp’s group allegedly did not show “precise malice” within the case.
Depp and Heard each filed preliminary attraction paperwork a month after their trial wrapped. Depp has appealed Heard’s $2 million damages award, Entertainment Weekly reported on Nov. 3, together with his attorneys calling the choice “inaccurate” and pushing to get it overturned. According to the LA Times, the subsequent plan of action is for Depp and Heard’s case to go to a three-judge court docket of appeals panel for additional resolution.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp Issued Statements Following Their Defamation Trial
Minutes after the jury introduced their verdict in Depp and Heard’s June trial, the latter released a statement on Instagram. “The disappointment I really feel at present is past phrases,” Heard wrote in her Notes app. “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. . . . I’m unhappy I misplaced this case. But I’m sadder nonetheless that I appear to have misplaced a proper I believed I had as an American — to talk freely and brazenly.”
Depp additionally shared a press release via Instagram following the decision. “Six years in the past, my life, the lifetime of my kids, the lives of these closest to me, and likewise, the lives of the individuals, who for a lot of, a few years have supported and believed in me have been modified perpetually,” he wrote in a submit. “. . . False, very severe and prison allegations have been levied at me through the media, which triggered an infinite barrage of hateful content material, though no expenses have been introduced towards me . . . six years later, the jury gave me my life again. I’m really humbled.”
Amber Heard Gave Her First Interview About the Defamation Trial Days After the Verdict
On June 13, Heard gave her first interview for the reason that verdict, chatting with NBC News’s Savannah Guthrie. “I do not care what one thinks about me or what judgements you need to make about what occurred within the privateness of my own residence, in my marriage, behind closed doorways. I do not presume the typical individual ought to know these issues,” she mentioned in a clip from the interview that aired on June 14 and 15. “But even any individual who is bound I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even should you assume that I’m mendacity, you continue to could not look me within the eye and inform me that you simply assume on social media there’s been a good illustration. You can’t inform me that you simply assume that this has been honest.”
Of the jury verdict, Heard mentioned, “I do not blame them. I truly perceive. He’s a beloved character and folks really feel they know him. He’s a implausible actor.”
What Happened During Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s Defamation Trial?
Depp and Heard’s extremely publicized trial started on April 12 after the previous sued his ex-wife for $50 million for libeling him in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed she wrote, during which she referred to herself as “a public determine representing home abuse.” Heard later countersued with a $100 million declare towards the Pirates of the Caribbean star for allegedly damaging her profession. The counterclaim got here after she alleged that Depp’s lawyer known as her allegations towards the actor a hoax.
Over the course of the civil trial, testimony from Depp and Heard revealed particulars in regards to the ex-couple’s short-lived marriage, which lasted lower than two years — together with graphic allegations of bodily and sexual abuse in addition to alleged aggression from each events. Part of figuring out who was liable to the opposite was figuring out whose phrases have been true and subsequently not libelous.
If you’re experiencing home violence within the United States and need assistance, you possibly can go to TheHotline.org to speak with somebody or name 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
