The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial has come to a conclusion. According to ET Online, 14 hours of jury deliberation found Heard did defame her ex-husband and “acted with actual malice.”
The jury provided the damages section to Judge Penney Azcarate, revealing $10 million in compensatory damages and an additional $5 million in punitive damages. The judge took $350,000 off the damages to be in regulation with the state statutory cap. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages for her countersuit. Her payment comes after Depp called her claims a “hoax.”
Following the decision and announcement, Heard released a statement:
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband. I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously. I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK. I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.”
Johnny Depp was not in attendance at the hearing, leaving his lawyers, Camille Vasquez and Ben Chew to deliver reactions. “Today’s verdict confirms what we have said from the beginning — that the claims against Johnny Depp are defamatory and unsupported by any evidence,” Vasquez said. “We are grateful, so grateful, for the jury and for their careful consideration.”
The decision now closes a $50 million lawsuit started by Depp in 2019 after an op-ed by Heard appeared in The Washington Post, where she wrote about being a victim of domestic violence. The piece alluded to the relationship between her and Depp that dissolved. Heard issued a countersuit for $100 million, citing the accusations hurt her career.
