Johnny Depp, Amber Heard Court docket Docs Unsealed: Trial Revelations

The authorized battle continues. Two months after a jury dominated in favor of Johnny Depp in his defamation case in opposition to Amber Heard, pretrial court docket paperwork have been unsealed, revealing proof that was ruled “inadmissible” during the highly publicized trial.

In line with a submitting submitted in March, the Pirates of the Caribbean star, 59, allegedly tried to submit “nude photos” of Heard, 36, together with different proof that she labored as “an unique dancer years earlier than she met Mr. Depp.” The Aquaman star’s group claimed Depp’s transfer was an try and “frivolously and maliciously suggest or imply that Ms. Heard was at one time an escort.” Heard’s legal professionals have been capable of forestall the “irrelevant private issues” from being introduced up in the course of the extremely publicized, arguing that it was inappropriate, in line with the Daily Beast.

The paperwork additionally element one other incident wherein Depp’s group claimed that the court docket ought to exclude any evidence of “supposed misdeeds” from Depp’s former lawyer, Adam Waldman, which was granted by the decide. The jury was additionally reportedly prevented from seeing any proof “of unfavorable social media visitors and purported Russian ‘bot’ campaign regarding Ms. Heard.”

The Edward Scissorhands star’s legal professionals later requested that every one references to his friendship with Marilyn Manson be excluded from the trial, out of concern that it would “smear Mr. Depp under a guilty by association theory.” (In 2021, Manson was accused of sexual ad physical abuse by a number of ladies, together with ex-fiancé Evan Rachel Wood. He has denied the allegations.)

The discharge of pretrial paperwork comes one month after the Magic Mike XXL actress’ request for a mistrial was denied by Decide Penney Azcarate amid claims that one of many jurors was not correctly verified. “The events additionally questioned the jury panel for a full day and knowledgeable the Court docket that the jury panel was acceptable,” the decide wrote in her determination in early July. “Due to this fact, due course of was assured and offered to all events on this litigation … there is no such thing as a proof of fraud or wrongdoing.”

The Finding Neverland star sued Heard for defamation in connection to a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Submit, wherein she described herself as a survivor of domestic abuse. Although she didn’t identify her Rum Diary costar — whom she was married to from 2015 to 2017 — within the essay, Depp claimed that it negatively impacted his profession.

After a two-month trial, a jury ruled in favor of Depp, awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. His punitive award was subsequently diminished to $350,000 because of a Virginia state legislation that set a cap on the utmost quantity that may be awarded. Heard was additionally awarded $2 million after the jury found that Depp’s attorney had made a defamatory statement about her when he alleged that her abuse claims have been a hoax.

On July 21, Heard’s team officially filed to appeal the verdict. “We imagine the court docket made errors that prevented a simply and honest verdict in line with the First Modification,” a spokesperson for the Texas native advised Us Weekly solely. “We’re subsequently interesting the decision. Whereas we understand right this moment’s submitting will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we have to take to make sure each equity and justice.”

In response to the attraction, a spokesperson for Depp advised Deadline in an announcement that the actor “remains confident” that his ex-wife will lose the appeal. “The jury listened to the intensive proof offered in the course of the six-week trial and got here to a transparent and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in a number of situations,” the assertion learn. “We stay assured in our case and that this verdict will stand.”

Hold scrolling to see the largest revelations from the newly unsealed court docket paperwork: