As the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has now gone into jury deliberations, the end is in sight for this leg of the timeline of the ill-fated marriage between Depp and Heard. It’s now up to those chosen few to evaluate what’s been shown over the past couple of months in Fairfax, Virginia, with the decision ultimately being theirs. Important questions will need to be answered as part of that resolution, and the jury has come back in need of an important distinction connected to Heard’s Washington Post op-ed at the heart of it all.
Included in the New York Post’s latest reporting on the soon-to-end trial, the jury asked the presiding Judge Penney Azcarate about the specific lens this op-ed was to be considered through. As jurors are being asked to consider if the headline to Amber Heard’s 2018 op-ed is false or not, there was a question of whether they’re supposed to judge largely on the headline or its connection to the text at large. Judge Azcarate clarified the scope of this inquiry with the following instruction:
The statement is the headline and not the entire op-ed.
The column, entitled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” has been at the center of the entire case. As Johnny Depp’s team has been arguing that the contents of the op-ed itself are “categorically false,” the instructions could be seen as another blow to Team Depp. It also further distances the claims that Amber Heard meant to boost Aquaman ticket sales by writing the op-ed, which Heard herself even dismissed in testimony.
At the moment, the seven-person jury is considering six questions pertaining to the Heard/Depp defamation case. Further details to indicate that two passages in Amber Heard’s op-ed have been highlighted as well. Between the headline and the selected portions of the text, the jury will have to decide whether Johnny Depp was intentionally defamed, with a burden of “clear and convincing evidence” set as the threshold.
The case between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has led to all sorts of evidence and wild stories during its six-week run. Questions concerning whether a security guard saw Depp’s penis, as well as how or if Amber Heard’s role in the Aquaman sequel was altered due to their ongoing legal battles, have both been discussed in open court. Now it’s up to the jury to consider those six questions, and whether or not those answers rule in the favor of Depp or Heard.
Deliberations continue in this legal proceeding, and as soon as a verdict is reached, CinemaBlend will report on that news as soon as it breaks. In the meantime, you can check out the list of upcoming movies headed to theaters in 2022. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom won’t be one of the titles you see on that list, as the DC Comics sequel will be in theaters on March 17, 2023.
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