At long last, jury gets closing arguments in the Depp trial
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Johnny Depp’s lawyers asked a jury Friday “to give Mr. Depp his life back” by finding that his ex-wife, Amber Heard, committed libel.
Heard “ruined his life by falsely telling the world she was a survivor of domestic abuse at the hands of Mr. Depp,” lawyer Camille Vasquez told the jury in closing arguments, referencing Heard’s allegations that she had been physically and sexually assaulted by Depp on numerous occasions.
Depp is hoping the six-week trial will help restore his reputation, though it has turned into a spectacle of a vicious marriage, with broadcast cameras in the courtroom capturing every twist to an increasingly rapt audience as fans weighed in on social media and lined up overnight for coveted courtroom seats.
“This case for Mr. Depp has never been about money,” said Depp lawyer Benjamin Chew. “It is about Mr. Depp’s reputation and freeing him from the prison in which he has lived for the last six years.”
Heard’s lawyer, J. Benjamin Rottenborn, said the lawsuit is not about Depp’s reputation but is part of an ongoing smear campaign Depp launched after Heard filed for divorce.
“In Mr. Depp’s world, you don’t leave Mr. Depp,” he said. “If you do, he will start a campaign of global humiliation against you.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim against Depp after his lawyer called her allegations a hoax. Though the counterclaim has received less attention at the trial, Heard lawyer Elaine Bredehoft said it provides an avenue for the jury to compensate Heard for the abuse Depp has inflicted on her by orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
“We’re asking you to finally hold this man responsible,” she told the jury. “He has never accepted responsibility for anything in his life.”
Depp says he never struck Heard and that she concocted the abuse allegations to gain an advantage in divorce proceedings. He has said he was often physically attacked by Heard.
“There is an abuser in this courtroom, but it is not Mr. Depp,” Vasquez said.
Heard testified about more than a dozen episodes of physical and sexual assault that she said Depp inflicted on her.
Vasquez, in her closing, noted that Heard had to revise her testimony about the first time she said she was struck. Heard said Depp hit her after she inadvertently laughed at one of his tattoos. Heard initially said it happened in 2013 — after a fairy-tale year of courtship and romance — but later corrected herself to say it happened in 2012, very early in their relationship.