After losing in a British court in 2020, Johnny Depp will get a second chance to try to refute allegations that he abused his ex-wife Amber Heard at a court hearing that opened today in Virginia.
Depp sued Heard in 2019 over her op-ed Published in the Washington Post In which she alluded to earlier allegations against Depp, saying she had become a “public figure representing domestic violence”.
Depp did not identify by name in the op-ed or go into any details of the abuse, instead focusing on the backlash she’s experienced since the allegations were made in 2016 and the remaining work of the #MeToo movement. But those six words prompted Depp to claim the $50 million, and her lawyers accused her of orchestrating an elaborate hoax in order to cripple his career. This claim – that she made up a hoax – in turn prompted her to file a $100 million counterclaim.
Over the next six weeks, jurors in Fairfax, Virginia — about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C. — will hear witness testimony, review transcripts and photos, and eventually have to determine who is telling the truth. Jury selection begins today and opening statements can be heard on Tuesday.
The trial will be broadcast on Court TV and is expected to cause a stir outside Fairfax County Courthouse, where spectators will line up early in the morning to claim one of the few seats in Courtroom 5J. Judge Benny Azcaret has already banned onlookers from overnight camping in the courtroom.
For Depp, the trial may represent a last chance to save his career. He denies Heard’s allegations and claims that she was the one who offended him.
In June 2018, he sued The Sun newspaper in the UK over an article he described as “hitting his wife”. the sun sad In this case, Judge Andrew Nicholl also opined that the newspaper’s characterization was “largely correct”. The trial included several days of testimony from both Depp and Heard, and covered 14 separate incidents of the alleged abuse.
In November 2020, the judge wrote: “I accept her testimony of the nature of the assaults he committed against her. She must have been horrific. I accept that Mr. Deeb made her fear for her life.”
The judge said he believed Heard’s account of a trip to Australia in March 2015, while filming the final part of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” in which she claimed he repeatedly assaulted her, grabbed her by the neck, and left her with cuts on her arms. Depp also cut off his finger and wrote letters in his blood, according to trial testimony.
In another incident, the judge found that Depp head-butted Heard and pulled tufts of her hair in December 2015. The judge also dismissed allegations that Depp pushed Heard against a wall and grabbed her by the throat as they traveled on the road. Train in Southeast Asia.
Days after the ruling, Depp was dropped from the third installment of the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. He had already been excluded from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.
In light of the UK ruling, Heard’s lawyers sought to have the case dismissed in Virginia. But Azkarat rejected this proposal, citing the vast differences between US and UK libel laws, and arguing that it would set a “dangerous precedent” for a US court to recognize a British libel ruling.
But Heard’s lawyers will be able to invoke Virginia’s anti-SLAPP law, which is intended to end frivolous litigation in matters of public interest. Depp’s lawyers argued that the law did not apply, because Heard’s allegations concern Depp’s personal behavior rather than a broader case.
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