Arab Times

FALLS CHURCH, Va: May 27,

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2016, was the day that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s marriage went from private misery to public, career-killing spectacle.

Heard, who had just filed for divorce, arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse that day to seek a temporary restrainin­g order, showing up with a clear mark on her face, which she said Depp inflicted during a fight six days prior. Photograph­ers captured the scene, and the allegation­s became tabloid fodder across the globe.

Depp says he never hit her, and now he’s suing Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court. On Wednesday, jurors in the case heard from police officers who responded to the couple’s penthouse immediatel­y after the fight. None of the officers saw the red mark that was so prominent six days later.

Officer Tyler Hadden, one of the officers who responded to the couple’s penthouse apartment on May 21, 2016, said Heard refused to talk to officers and had no signs of an injury, although he acknowledg­ed she’d been crying and was red-faced.

“Just because I see a female with pink cheeks and pink eyes doesn’t mean something happened,” he said in a recorded deposition played for jurors Wednesday.

Depp had already left the penthouse by the time officers arrived. Officers said they had no idea who Heard was, or that she was married to Depp. He said neither Heard nor anyone at the penthouse complex was willing to tell him or the other officers who Heard’s husband was.

Jurors heard similar testimony Tuesday from an officer who accompanie­d Hadden to the penthouse.

An officer who made a followup visit that night, William Gatlin, testified Wednesday that he saw no injuries either, though he acknowledg­ed that his visit was brief and he got no closer than 10 feet (3 meters) from Heard. He said his check was a perfunctor­y one because it appeared that the call was just a duplicate to the one that Hadden had already responded to.

The jury saw bodycam video of Gatlin’s response, which was less than two minutes. Heard could

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