Home Scandal and Gossip Why Johnny Depp won defamation suit against Amber Heard

Why Johnny Depp won defamation suit against Amber Heard

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
-
SHARE
Johnny Depp verdict: Amber Heard loses defamation suit
Johnny Depp verdict: Amber Heard loses defamation suit.
Johnny Depp verdict: Amber Heard loses defamation suit
Johnny Depp verdict. Pirates of Caribbean actor wins defamation suit against ex wife, Amber Heard.

Johnny Depp verdict: Pirates of Caribbean actor wins defamation suit against Amber Heard ex wife: Awarded $8.35 million net in case that highlighted lessons about domestic violence and sexual abuse. 

Ultimately the jury didn’t believe her. Neither did the public tuning in from around the world as two high profile actors went to bat over the public sympathy card and validation of good persona.

In Johnny Depp’s case it was a desperate attempt to reclaim the long term love affair and grace he had maintained with cinema goers for over 30 plus years but more importantly with that of producers who had suddenly stopped hiring him. For Amber Heard, it was the notion that she was a victim of domestic and sexual abuse. Or rather a perpetual victim at the hands of one very rich powerful man. Supposedly.

Heard was found liable for defaming Depp in an op-ed published in the Washington Post, and Depp was found liable for a statement his attorney made to the Daily Mail calling her claims a hoax, a jury decided Wednesday.

While the jury found Depp should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, the judge said state law caps punitive damages at $350,000, meaning Depp’s award would total $10.35 million less $2 million in damages that should be awarded to Heard, leaving him with $8.35m.

In a statement posted on Twitter and Instagram Heard said, “The disappointment I feel today is beyond words.” Depp said in a statement posted to Instagram, “the jury gave me my life back.”

Johnny Depp verdict: Case of credibility 

Heard’s ‘warts and all for the public to see,’ case seemingly unravelled during cross examination according to legal scholars.

‘The case was going to rise and fall on her credibility more than any nuanced legal question. And she just did not make it through the trial with her credibility intact,’ said former California judge Halim Dhanidina told the nypost.

‘The fact that she emerged from cross examination in essence defeated without any remaining credibility — that was the lynchpin in the case for me,’ he said.

Dhanidina, who is also a current Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, said jurors likely thought the 36-year-old actress was lying about the abuse she claimed to have suffered at the hands of the 58-year-old ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star.

‘Inauthentic, overacting or not deserving of empathy.’

The jury ultimately thought, ‘She was lying about [Depp] on purpose because she had a bone to pick with him. And that, to me, is the take away on this trial,’ Dhanidina told the nypost.

Added Beverly Hills entertainment attorney Mitra Ahouraian in sentiments widely embraced by commentators on social media: ‘The jury found her to be either inauthentic, overacting or not deserving of empathy.’

‘A lot of Heard’s emotional cues on the witness stand didn’t line up with her testimony. She would get very impassioned at weird times or make awkward attempts to connect with the jury by speaking to them directly,’ she said.

Women can abuse too

Going against Heard was the actresses seeming inability to keep her story straight during some points of the trial, Ahouraian said.

‘She also was caught in far too many inconsistencies, making it hard to know which parts to believe and which parts to disbelieve. Even if there was some truth to her statements, her own testimony, and her own words documented in audio recordings, hurt her more than anything in this trial,’ Ahouraian said.

‘Depp’s lawyers did an incredible job of highlighting this,’ she said.

Texas civil attorney Katherine Lizardo added that testimony from Depp’s ex-girlfriend,  supermodel Kate Moss, ‘was a nail in the coffin’ for Heard.

Moss testified that Depp had never thrown her down a set of stairs, like Heard had claimed —  injuring Heard’s ‘credibility,’ Lizardo said.

The case threw into question the legitimacy of when some women claim to be victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse along with the real world dilemma in the face of the ‘me too’ movement, of most men being perceived as credible victims of false allegations, save for those who have the funds like Johnny Depp to re-dress such claims and fight to ‘re-claim their life.’ 

SHARE