At long last, jury gets closing arguments
A jury is scheduled to hear closing arguments this morning in Johnny Depp’s high-profile libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.
Each side will have two hours to summarise their case in a trial that has stretched on for six weeks.
With broadcast cameras in the courtroom, a celebrity trial that garnered intense interest from the outset has only gained momentum as fans have weighed in on social media and lined up overnight for a coveted courtroom seat.
Depp is suing Heard for US$50 million ($76.79m) 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 US$100 million counterclaim against Depp after his lawyer called her allegations a hoax.
Depp says he never struck Heard and that she concocted the abuse allegations to gain an advantage in divorce proceedings.
Heard testified about more than a dozen episodes of physical and sexual assault that she said Depp inflicted on her.
Heard was the final witness yesterday in the six-week libel trial. Depp and Heard have testified about the ugly details of their relationship.
Online and at the courthouse, Depp’s fans have overwhelmingly dominated the narrative. Heard has been booed by spectators on the street as she enters and leaves the courthouse.
“The harassment and the humiliation, the campaign against me that’s echoed every single day on social media, and now in front of cameras in the showroom — every single day I have to relive the trauma,” Heard said yesterday as she fought back tears.
“Perhaps it’s easy to forget I’m a human being.”
On cross-examination, Depp lawyer Camille Vasquez told Heard that “your lies have been exposed to the world” and questioned her about people who contradicted portions of her accounts.
Heard said she hopes the lawsuit will allow her to regain her voice, and said she had the “right as an American” to publish an article that described her experiences and how they relate to the national debate over domestic violence.