Last Friday Amber Heard’s legal team, led by Elaine Bredehoft, filed a motion at the Virginia Fairfax Court to toss the juror’s verdict on the case of defamation between her and her ex-husband Johnny Depp, claiming inconsistencies and asking for a brand new trial. While many wondered if this could mean another high-profile trial, others found that Heard’s petition was unfounded and just an attempt to avoid paying the compensations for 10.35 million dollars awarded to Depp.
It seems that Depp’s lawyers think the same, and this Monday, they answered Amber Heard’s motion filing a document urging Judge Penney Azcarate not to toss the verdict claiming Heard’s motion is frivolous and outlandish.
One of the points in Heard’s file was that there were inconsistencies in the process and that it didn’t make sense for the jurors to find both of them accountable for defamation. Depp’s team argued that there’s nothing inconsistent in the verdict as each of the accounts was very specific and explained thoroughly to the jurors.
“Mr. Depp respectfully requests that the Court deny Ms. Heard’s frivolous motion in its entirety and reject her outlandish requests to set aside the jury verdict, dismiss the complaint, or in the alternative order a new trial.”
Amber Heard also claims that Juror 15 wasn’t who he said he was. The court summoned a man born in 1945 and instead his son with the same name attended the six-week trial. However, according to Depp’s attorneys, if as Heard’s team claimed, the juror was clearly not the person summoned, they had plenty of time to object to his identity during the trial. They added that doing it now it’s too late according to the legal procedures and shouldn’t be taken into consideration for a mistrial.
In general, Depp’s motion claims that Amber Heard’s time to object has passed and that she hasn’t shown evidence of having suffered any prejudice after the verdict as her motion claims: “Ms. Heard makes no showing of any prejudice, and accordingly her speculative arguments fail.”
Whether there will be another trial or not, depends on Judge Azcarate, although it seemed clear that the now-famous judge wanted all this case to be over. A couple of weeks ago, both legal teams met to see if they could reach an agreement; it didn’t happen. Heard’s team wanted the verdict to be tossed back then and Judge Azcarate told them that they would have to appeal.
Appealing is not an option for Amber Heard since she would have to pay a bond for the same amount of money she should be paying Depp, so this motion to toss the verdict and have a new trial is basically her only chance, one that seems improbable.
As for Johnny Depp, it seems things are working out. This Monday his team also reached a settlement with a location manager who claims the actor punched him on the set of the movie City of Lies in 2017. For this case, Depp paired back with Camille Vazquez, and it seems that, for now, he’s clear of legal issues unless Judge Azcarate grants Heard her motion for a new trial.
