High Profile Trial Ends In Depp’s Favour

The six-week-long Amber Heard and Johnny Depp courtroom trial ended with the jury giving out a split verdict. It began when Depp sued his ex-wife, Heard for defamation. In an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018, Heard called herself "a public figure representing domestic abuse”.

Though she did not name Depp, he alleged that the claim cost him lucrative acting roles. Heard countersued Depp for defamation over his attorney’s statement that her domestic violence claims were hoax.

The jury analysed six statements, three each, issued by Depp and Heard. Out of the three statements made by Depp, the jury upheld all of them. On Depp’s first claim, that the statement made by Heard in the op-ed was defamatory, the jury agreed.

The second claim that Heard was referring to Depp while speaking about being a victim of domestic violence was verified by the jury in Depp’s favour. The most important of the three statements that whether there was malice in making such claims, the jury agreed that Heard acted with actual malice when she made the statement.

The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Of the three statements made by Heard, the jury found one to be correct and awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages.

During the trial, both sides presented their arguments backed by eyewitness accounts, text messages exchanged as well as audio and visual proof. Being a defamation case pertaining to a public figure, Depp had a bigger burden to prove the charges against Heard. He also presented instances, where he was abused by Heard, providing a glimpse of “mutual abuse” that both the parties indulged in during their troubled marriage.

Johnny Depp welcomed the verdict claiming that the jury has “given his life back” Amber Heard, on the other hand, called the verdict a setback for women. She added that it seems that she has lost the right, as an American, to speak openly and freely.

However, many are of the view that Heard caught lying about something as serious as domestic violence has caused greater harm to the actual victims than the court verdict, as she claims. It has also brought out the fact, often brushed aside, that even men could be victims of domestic abuse.