Amber Heard Is Now Going After The Johnny Depp Trial Judge
This article is more than 2 years old
Amber Heard has finally formally appealed the verdict in her notorious Johnny Depp defamation trial and is specifically calling out Judge Penney S. Azcarate for allegedly mishandling the case. Per Deadline, Amber Heard’s legal team has filed a brief in Virginia to have the verdict (which heavily favored Johnny Depp) either reversed or thrown out entirely, which would necessitate a repeat of the much-publicized case. Among other things, the brief says that the court (meaning Azcarate) erred by allowing the trial to take place in Virginia, overruling Heard’s argument that her opinions could not be legally deemed defamation, and both excluding and including various pieces of evidence.
In short, Amber Heard’s legal team is making a great many arguments as to why the Johnny Depp verdict should be thrown out. This is not surprising, considering Amber Heard stated that the verdict would be appealed essentially as soon as it was delivered, and both she and Johnny Depp have continued to be involved in the legal fallout of the case since. It is interesting, however, that Heard’s lawyers are using multiple angles to essentially claim that it is Judge Azcarate that is responsible for the result of the case.
Amber Heard’s appeal to the Johnny Depp defamation case verdict begins by claiming forum non conveniens, which is the legal concept under which a court generally has the discretion to decline a case that could be better suited to a different location. In this particular case, the claim is made that the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial should not have been held in Virginia, rejecting the legal decision for it to take place there due to the servers of the Washington Post (a key element of the case) being physically located there. According to the brief, it should have been held in California, where both Amber Heard and Johnny Depp live.
After that, Amber Heard’s brief then claims that her statements were improperly treated as statements of fact and not opinion (which is then argued should not be legally actionable as defamation). From there, Amber Heard’s legal team argues that the 2020 judgment against Johnny Depp in the United Kingdom should have rendered the entire case moot; additionally, it claims that evidence presented in that case should have been admitted to the Virginia case.
From there, Amber Heard’s current legal argument lists a number of pieces of evidence that were excluded, including medical records and conversations with Johnny Depp’s employees, stating they also should have been included. On the opposite side, the brief claims that admitted evidence was “irrelevant and unduly prejudicial” as it pertained to Amber Heard’s pledge to donate to charity.
At the very least, this new legal maneuver shows that the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp story is far from over. Heard is currently on the hook for some $10 million in damages to the Pirates of the Caribbean actor and reportedly living under an assumed name in Europe. We will update as legal events proceed with Heard’s appeal in the case.
