Amber Heard isn’t actually asking for the US$100mil she sued Johnny Depp for. Her lawyer stated Friday (May 27) that they merely requested for that quantity to send a message to the Pirates Of The Caribbean star after he requested for half that quantity when he sued her for defamation.
That info got here Friday in a Virginia courtroom as authorized groups for the previous spouses registered their closing arguments of their duelling defamation instances.
“Johnny Depp sued for US$50mil, and we sent a message back saying, ‘Fine, then we’re gonna sue for US$100mil because look what you did to her.’ We’re not asking you to give US$100mil,” lawyer Elaine Bredehoft advised the jury, talking about compensatory damages.
“We’re asking you to just look at the damages in this case and just be fair and reasonable in whatever you determine.”
The case, which kicked off April 11 in Fairfax, Virginia, went to the jury Friday afternoon.
While Depp’s aspect has painted the case as being about getting his life and status again, Heard’s aspect has argued that it’s a First Amendment case about the proper to inform one’s personal story.
Amber Heard’s authorized workforce has argued that it’s a First Amendment case about the proper to inform one’s personal story. Photo: AFP
Heard lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn led off the defendant’s closing arguments by warning the jurors concerning the message they might be sending to victims of home abuse in the event that they present in Depp’s favour.
“If you didn’t take pictures, it didn’t happen. If you did take pictures, they’re fake. If you didn’t tell your friends, you’re lying. If you did tell your friends, they’re part of the hoax. If you didn’t seek medical treatment, you weren’t injured.
“If you did seek medical treatment, you’re crazy,” Rottenborn stated.
“If you do everything that you can to help your spouse, the person that you love, rid himself of the crushing drug and alcohol abuse that spins him into an abusive, rage-filled monster, you’re a nag.
“And if you finally decide enough is enough, you’ve had enough of the fear, enough of the pain and you have to leave to save yourself, you’re a gold digger.”
Rottenborn referred to as the case “victim-blaming at its most disgusting.”
Johnny Depp’s aspect has painted the case as being about getting his life and status again. Photo: Reuters
He additionally replayed the infamous video of Depp wandering round a kitchen, slamming cupboard doorways, pouring himself a massive glass of wine and getting indignant when he realised Heard was recording his actions.
“Who does that? Who does that?” Rottenborn requested the jurors. “Imagine watching your husband, the person you love, behaving violently that way. Like a wild animal. That is abuse. That’s abuse.”
Those statements got here after Depp’s attorneys argued that he was the precise sufferer within the relationship.
“There is an abuser in this courtroom, but it is not Mr. Depp,” lawyer Camille Vasquez stated. “And there is a victim of domestic abuse in this courtroom, but it is not Ms. Heard.”
Later, Vasquez painted the workforce’s allegations in opposition to Heard extra plainly. “Ms. Heard lied,” she stated. “And she lied again. And she kept lying.”
Heard allegedly lied, Vasquez stated, when she requested for the short-term restraining order in 2016, when she stated she donated her complete US$7mil divorce settlement to charity and when she wrote the 2018 Washington Post op-ed round which Depp’s case revolves. (The case is being argued in Virginia as a result of the state is residence to the information outlet’s servers.)
Dan Kim, 26, holds a sign up help of Amber Heard amidst throngs of Johnny Depp followers, outdoors the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on the ultimate day of the defamation trial of Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard. Photo: Reuters
“She’s come too far. She can’t back down. She’s lied too many times to too many people,” Vasquez stated.
“So when Mr Depp finally decided to fight, to clear his name by filing this lawsuit, Ms. Heard responded by making up more and more stories of more and more extreme abuse.
“She came up with a new accusation that Mr. Depp had raped her with a bottle in Australia, and she keeps making new claims up even now.”
After itemizing the 16 witnesses who had stood up in court docket for Depp both in individual or through stay video, together with ex-girlfriend Kate Moss, the Depp workforce later stated that apart from Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez, “no one showed up for Ms. Heard in this courtroom” aside from witnesses who had been paid to testify.
Heard’s workforce offered its case largely through prerecorded video depositions.
Actor Johnny Depp greets courtroom workers after closing arguments throughout his defamation case in opposition to ex-wife Amber Heard. Photo: Reuters
Depp lawyer Ben Chew, throughout his flip in entrance of the jury, categorised the case as “the unique and singular #MeToo case where there’s not a single ‘me too,’” as in no different ladies who got here ahead to equally accuse Depp of abuse.
Chew additionally famous that after the #MeToo motion hit in 2017, producers knew higher than to rent anybody who had been accused of abuse, implying that Heard’s 2018 op-ed had positioned Depp into a class the place he didn’t belong – one which allegedly value him tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in appearing work.
Rottenborn returned in his rebuttal to remind the jury about how Heard’s profession had allegedly suffered after feedback had been made by former Depp lawyer Adam Waldman.
“Studios like her. Co-stars like her. She tests well. But she can’t get opportunities because of the negativity associated with Mr. Depp and Mr. Waldman,” he stated.
Amber Heard’s workforce offered its case largely through prerecorded video depositions. Photo: AFP
Judge Penney Azcarate – who kicked off Friday by studying the jury its directions about how to determine the case – had strongly hinted the day earlier than that the jury shouldn’t argue previous dinnertime every day and instructed them to determine what time they might return to deliberations after the Monday vacation.
In Virginia, a seven-person civil jury should attain a verdict unanimously. The jury on this case will determine the defamation claims for each actors concurrently.
It’s not clear when the decision might be determined, although presumably it may occur subsequent week. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
Fans of Johnny Depp and their pets wait to get a glimpse of the actor on the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse. Photo: Reuters
