Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s trial became the talk of the town owing to the explosive testimony and shocking revelations about their toxic marriage. The defamation trial ended with US Court ordering Amber to pay USD10 million in compensatory damages and USD 5 million in punitive damages in the verdict, while Johnny was ordered to pay Amber USD 2 million. Recently, Amber Heard made a request for a fresh trial in her defamation case against ex-husband Johnny Depp. It has now been denied by a Virginia court in the US.
On Wednesday, the judge, who presided over the six-week trial in April-June, issued a written order denying Amber’s request to have the June 1 verdict in the high-profile trial set aside, or have a mistrial declared.
Last week, Amber’s lawyers filed a motion saying that one of the jurors chosen for the Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp trial was not the same person, who received the jury summons. Johnny’s legal team had rejected the efforts by Amber’s lawyers and called the filing ‘frivolous’.
In a written order on Wednesday, Judge Penney Azcarate rejected all of Amber’s claims and said the juror issue specifically was irrelevant and that Amber can’t show she was prejudiced. “The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict. The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury," Azcarate wrote, reported AP.
“The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict. The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury," Azcarate wrote.
In March 2019, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued Amber for defamation, after she wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post about domestic violence. The article did not mention Johnny by name, but his lawyers said the article defamed him by referring to allegations of abuse as she filed for divorce in 2016.
On June 1 this year, a seven-person jury of Fairfax County, Virginia, ruled in the favour of Johnny proving that Amber defamed the actor in her 2018 op-ed. They even ordered the actress to pay USD 10.35 million against the damages caused to Johnny’s image and career.
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