Jury In Amber Heard And Johnny Depp Trial Come To Judge With A Question

During their deliberations, the jury in Johnny Depp's multimillion-dollar defamation trial against Amber Heard raised an important question to the judge.

Credit: Alamy

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor has sued his ex-wife for $50 million (£38.2 million) over a 2018 article she wrote in the Washington Post, titled: "I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture's wrath. That has to change."

Although the article did not name Depp, his lawyers claim it erroneously inferred that he sexually and physically mistreated the Aquaman actor while they were together.

(Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Heard is also suing Depp in response to statements made by his lawyer, Adam Waldman, who allegedly referred to her abuse claims as a "hoax."

The jury is now discussing their verdict after six weeks of deliberation.

Credit: Alamy

The jury will reach their decision by answering 21 questions posed to them by the judge.

And today (May 31), the jury has asked the judge if they consider just the op-ed headline "I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture's wrath" in their evaluation or what's in the body of the op-ed.

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Currently, the seven-person jury is considering six questions about the Heard/Depp defamation case.

Further details indicate that two passages in Amber Heard's op-ed have been highlighted. Between the headline and the selected portions of the text, the jury will have to decide whether Johnny Depp was intentionally defamed, with a burden of "clear and convincing evidence" set as the threshold.

Judge Penney Azcarate clarified the question and agreed with both legal teams that jurors must classify the 'headline' as the potentially defamatory statement, not the 'article' itself.

Other questions that the jury must answer range from - 'The statement was made or published by Ms. Heard?' to 'The statement has a defamatory implication about Mr. Depp'.

While the final question states: "Do you find that Mr. Depp has proven by clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Heard acted with actual malice?"

In his closing remarks, Benjamin Rottenborn, who represents Heard, said: "The facts are absolutely overwhelming, of abuse.

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"Mr Depp simply cannot prove to you that he never once abused Amber, and if you don't know, you have to return a verdict for Ms Heard.

"A ruling against Amber here sends the message that no matter what you do as an abuse victim you always need to do more."

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Also, in her closing remarks, Depp's lawyer, Camille Vasquez, said: "In doing so ruined his life by falsely telling the world that she was a survivor of domestic abuse at the hands of Mr Depp.

"On May 27 2022, exactly six years later, we ask you to give Mr Depp his life back. What is at stake in this trial is a man's life.

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"There is an abuser in this courtroom but it is not Mr Depp. There is a victim of domestic abuse in this courtroom, but it is not Ms Heard."