BREAKING: Jury Rules Amber Heard Lied About Johnny Depp Abuse

Amber Heard (Picture by Drew Angerer/Getty Photos)

Johnny Depp received a complete of $15 million in damages on three counts of defamation by Amber Heard on Wednesday afternoon, June 1, 2022. Ms. Heard received a counterclaim towards Depp attributable to defamatory statements by his lawyer and agent within the quantity of $2 million. A part of Depp’s complete award got here within the quantity of a $5 million punitive injury award, which was instantly decreased by the decide in keeping with Virginia’s statutory cap on that class of damages. Absent any appeals, Ms. Heard must pay Mr. Depp $8,350,000.

Johnny Depp (Picture by Cliff Owen/Consolidated Information Footage/Getty Photos)

Decide Penney S. Azcarate first needed to direct the jury to repair the decision type, which they left partially clean. Court docket resumed a couple of half-hour later when the counts had been learn aloud. Heard was current within the courtroom for the studying of the verdicts, whereas Mr. Depp is reportedly within the UK. A press release was learn on his behalf, nevertheless, after the decision. “From the very starting, the objective of bringing this case was to disclose the reality, whatever the end result,” the actor mentioned by the use of a spokesperson. “Talking the reality was one thing that I owed to my kids and to all those that have remained steadfast of their help of me. I really feel at peace realizing I’ve lastly completed that.”

Mr. Depp sued Ms. Heard, his former spouse, for $50 million over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for a outstanding Washington newspaper alleging she was the sufferer of home abuse. The piece didn’t determine Depp by title, however the actor charged the allegations nonetheless tanked his famous person profession and made him persona non grata round a lot of Hollywood. Amber Heard countersued her ex-husband for $100 million, accusing him and his former lawyer of conspiring to “destroy and defame” her for calling the op-ed false.

The six-week-long trial took on a circus-like environment on the packed courthouse in Fairfax County, Virginia, and on-line, the place the trial was broadcast dwell to tens of millions. The courthouse arrange a particular webpage to handle guests and data, and social media accounts had been devoted to highlighting trial protection. The trial revealed Depp and Heard’s poisonous relationship, together with reciprocal allegations of spousal abuse. Different revelations included that ACLU staffers had been the principal authors of the op-ed credited to Heard, and he or she refused at hand over a multi-million greenback donation she promised to provide the group.