Jury sides with Johnny Depp in libel case, awards him over USD 10 million

By Associated Press

FAIRFAX: A jury sided Wednesday with Johnny Depp in his libel lawsuit in opposition to ex-wife Amber Heard, awarding the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor greater than $10 million and vindicating his allegations that Heard lied about Depp abusing her earlier than and through their temporary marriage.

But in a cut up resolution, the jury additionally discovered that Heard was defamed by one in every of Depp’s attorneys, who accused her of making an in depth hoax that included roughing up the couple’s condo to look worse for police. The jury awarded her $2 million.

The verdicts carry an finish to a televised trial that Depp had hoped would assist restore his repute, although it became a spectacle that supplied a window right into a vicious marriage.

Heard, who was stoic within the courtroom as the decision was learn, mentioned she was heartbroken.

“I’m much more dissatisfied with what this verdict means for different ladies. It’s a setback. It units again the clock to a time when a lady who spoke up and spoke out might be publicly humiliated. It units again the concept that violence in opposition to ladies is to be taken significantly,’’ she mentioned in an announcement posted on her Twitter account.

Depp, who was not in courtroom Wednesday, mentioned “the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled.”

“I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up,” he mentioned in an announcement posted to Instagram.

Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His attorneys mentioned he was defamed by the article though it by no means talked about his identify.

The jury present in Depp’s favor on all three of his claims referring to particular statements within the 2018 piece.

Throughout the proceedings, followers who had been overwhelmingly on Depp’s facet lined up in a single day for coveted courtroom seats. Spectators who couldn’t get in gathered on the road to cheer Depp and jeer Heard every time they appeared outdoors.

A crowd of about 200 folks cheered when Depp’s attorneys got here out after the decision. “Johnny for president!” one man yelled repeatedly.

Greg McCandless, 51, a retired non-public detective from Reston, Virginia, stood outdoors the courthouse sporting a pirate hat and purple head scarf, a nod to Depp’s well-known function as Capt. Jack Sparrow within the “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequence.

“I do believe that there was defamation, and I do believe that it did hurt his career,” McCandless mentioned. “I think the jury heard the evidence, and the verdict was just.”

In evaluating Heard’s counterclaims, jurors thought-about three statements by a lawyer for Depp who referred to as her allegations a hoax. They discovered she was defamed by one in every of them, through which the lawyer claimed that she and buddies “spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight,” and referred to as police.

Sydni Porter, 30, drove an hour from her dwelling in Maryland to point out help for Heard. She mentioned the decision was disappointing, however not shocking, and sends a message to ladies that “as much evidence as you have (of abuse), it’s never going to be enough.”

The jury discovered Depp ought to obtain $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, however the decide mentioned state regulation caps punitive damages at $350,000, which means Depp was awarded $10.35 million.

While the case was ostensibly about libel, many of the testimony centered on whether or not Heard had been bodily and sexually abused, as she claimed. Heard enumerated greater than a dozen alleged assaults, together with a struggle in Australia — the place Depp was capturing a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel — through which Depp misplaced the tip of his center finger and Heard mentioned she was sexually assaulted with a liquor bottle.

Depp mentioned he by no means hit Heard and that she was the abuser, although Heard’s attorneys highlighted years-old textual content messages Depp despatched apologizing to Heard for his habits in addition to profane texts he despatched to a pal through which Depp mentioned he wished to kill Heard and defile her lifeless physique.

In some methods, the trial was a replay of a lawsuit Depp filed within the United Kingdom in opposition to a British tabloid after he was described as a “wife beater.” The decide in that case dominated within the newspaper’s favor after discovering that Heard was telling the reality in her descriptions of abuse.

In the Virginia case, Depp needed to show not solely that he by no means assaulted Heard, however that Heard’s article — which centered totally on public coverage associated to home violence — defamed him. He additionally needed to show that Heard wrote the article with precise malice.

And to say damages, he needed to show that her article induced the harm to his repute versus any variety of articles earlier than and after Heard’s piece that detailed the allegations in opposition to him.

The case captivated thousands and thousands by way of its gavel-to-gavel tv protection, together with impassioned followers on social media who dissected every little thing from the actors’ mannerisms to the potential symbolism of what they had been sporting. Both performers emerge from the trial with reputations in tatters with unclear prospects for his or her careers.

Eric Rose, a disaster administration and communications skilled in Los Angeles, referred to as the trial a “classic murder-suicide.”

“From a reputation-management perspective, there can be no winners,” he mentioned. “They’ve bloodied each other up. It becomes more difficult now for studios to hire either actor because you’re potentially alienating a large segment of your audience who may not like the fact that you have retained either Johnny or Amber for a specific project because feelings are so strong now.”

Depp, a three-time greatest actor Oscar nominee, had till latest years been a bankable star. His flip as Sparrow helped flip the “Pirates of the Caribbean” into a world franchise, however he’s misplaced that function. He was additionally changed within the third “Fantastic Beasts” spin-off movie, “The Secrets of Dumbledore.”

Despite testimony on the trial that he might be violent, abusive and uncontrolled, Depp obtained a standing ovation Tuesday evening in London after performing for about 40 minutes with Jeff Beck on the Royal Albert Hall.

Heard’s appearing profession has been extra modest, and her solely two upcoming roles are in a small movie and the upcoming “Aquaman” sequel due out subsequent 12 months.

Depp’s attorneys fought to maintain the case in Virginia, partly as a result of state regulation supplied some authorized benefits in contrast with California, the place the 2 reside. A decide dominated that Virginia was a suitable discussion board for the case as a result of The Washington Post’s printing presses and on-line servers are within the county.