The jury assigned to the trial of Johnny Depp against Amber Heard for defamation did not reach a unanimous decision, so there is still no verdict. The deliberation will resume on Tuesday, May 31st.
Under Virginia law, the jury must reach a unanimous verdict. To do this, as the trial is for defamation and not for alleged abuse, they will have to assess three accusations expressed by Heard in her article and three other accusations by Depp.
In addition to Heard and Depp, whose statements lasted several days, psychologists, police officers, representatives, domestic employees and even the couple’s therapist, who insisted that the abuse was “mutual“, have intervened during the six weeks of the trial.
Once the jury indicates they have reached a verdict, there will be ONE HOUR before the verdict is read to allow parties to return to the courtroom. The judge is NOT requiring #JohnnyDepp or #AmberHeard to be present for the verdict – no word on if they will. pic.twitter.com/TG600mBhIm
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) May 27, 2022
In their final conclusions, Depp’s lawyers argued that the actor is aware of “his mistakes” but that he has never assaulted a woman, and that is why they pointed out that the actor’s reputation was damaged after his ex-wife published said article in the newspaper The Washington Post in 2018.
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However, the actor’s legal team focused their final intervention on the need for the protagonist of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘ to recover the “lost honor” and left aside the economic issue. The lawyer maintained that his client admits to having drug addiction problems, but pointed out that
“There is a world of difference between having substance abuse problems and being a physical abuser“, he added.
The actor’s other lawyer, Camille Vasquez, went further, assuring that there was “a victim of domestic violence” in court and it was not “Miss Heard“.
NO VERDICT: The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial wraps up Friday without a verdict. Deliberations set to resume Tuesday. MORE: https://t.co/URteZQgZwJ pic.twitter.com/yiFZQwBfAr
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) May 27, 2022
For his part, Amber Heard’s lawyer, Ben Rottenborn, closed his speech by claiming that his client is protected by the first amendment to the US Constitution, which includes the right to freedom of expression and, therefore, should not be condemned by the article she wrote.
“It’s simple, if you believe that Depp was abusive to Amber only once … his job is very simple“, he implored the jury.
