Depp trial at the bitter end
Amber ripped in & outside court as . . .
Johnny Depp’s explosive libel case against a British tabloid came to a close Tuesday, with his lawyer getting in some parting digs at ex-wife Amber Heard — while she was jeered by his adoring fans outside the court.
Depp arrived for the final day of summations in the more-thanthree-weeklong London trial pressing his hands together as if he was offering a prayer.
Supporters showered him with flowers while screaming “We love you!’’ and “Justice for Johnny!”
One of his lawyers, David Sherborne, then spent the next few hours in the courtroom systematically challenging Heard’s allegations that Depp repeatedly beat her during their relationship.
He claimed that Depp “has never hit a woman in his entire life. Period. Full stop. Nada’’ — and called Heard’s alleged injuries “magic bruises that only appear when she is on her own or with friends.”
Depp is suing The Sun for labeling him a “wife-beater’’ in a 2018 headline, based on Heard’s allegations.
After court, an emotional Heard read a statement outside in which she spoke about the “incredibly painful’’ court proceeding, adding that she believes “in British justice.’’
She was booed and heckled with calls for “Justice for Johnny!” by some onlookers.
Neither Heard nor Depp is on trial — but the public wouldn’t have known it from the vicious, sometimes sickening testimony that the exes and a slew of witnesses on both sides offered in court.
Depp was accused of beating Heard in the face with the silver rings he famously wears on his fingers, tossing booze bottles and anything else he could get his hands on at her and hurling vile slurs.
He, meanwhile, alleged that she was the real physical attacker, faking her own injuries, cheating on him with the likes of Telsa chief Elon Musk and actor James Franco — and even defecating in the bed of their Los Angeles penthouse as the marriage crumbled.
Scores of violent videos, obscenity-laced text san de-mails were introducedas evidence, including footage of De pp smashing a cupboard.
“It was played to witnesses so many times you would have been forgiven for thinking this was a trial of Mr. Depp the kitchen-cupboard beater, rather than a wife-beater,’’ Sherborne said in his summation.
Heard’s laugh, which could be heard at the end of the video, “demonstrates she is not remotely concerned about violence or being in danger in any way,’’ he charged. “She is just happy she has the footage.”
“Where, we ask, in all of the years of violence that she alleges, when she has her phone at the ready, where is the secret recording of Mr Depp knocking seven bells out of her?” the lawyer added.
Depp’s legal team argued in a written document submitted to court Tuesday that the accusations have lumped the actor “into the same category of Harvey Weinstein and invoke [the] #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.”
Movie mogul Weinstein was sentenced in March to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault and still faces further charges.
“That is why [Depp] has come here — to clear his reputation,” Sherborne said, insisting the case is not about money but “vindication.”
The case is now in the hands of a British judge, whose ruling is not expected until September.