Amber Heard Officially Lost? Star Suffers Big Blow in Johnny Depp’s Defamation Trial
Amber Heard received a major blow amid the defamation trial with Johnny Depp.
Depp and his team rested their case as their witnesses shared everything they know about the case. It opened the door for defendant Heard's team to present their testimonies and bring witnesses to the stand.
However, they attempted to make the court throw out the lawsuit by filing a motion for dismissal - something the judge disapproved of.
Heard's attorney Ben Rottenborn tried convincing the court as they believed that Depp's side failed to present enough evidence to prove defamation.
However, Depp's attorney Benjamin Chew reiterated their witnesses' testimonies and said that the actor's career and reputation were damaged due to the "Aquaman" actress' 2018 op-ed.
Although Heard did not mention Depp's name, the actor's legal team and supporters insisted that the content of the article pointed toward him. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" lost his Captain Jack Sparrow role four days after the op-ed's publication.
While Chew said that Heard was the abuser in the relationship and not Depp, Rottenborn offered a counterattack.
"I can tell you, she is not the abuser, and if the case moves forward, she and her witnesses will put on even more evidence of the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of Mr. Depp," Heard's lawyer went on. "Even under their standard, the undisputed evidence is that Mr. Depp did commit abuse against Ms. Heard."
In the end, Judge Penney Azcarate denied the motions as the "weight of that evidence is up to the fact-finders." Now, the jury got the power to decide whether Heard's op-ed indeed defamed Depp.
Amber Heard Tried Dismissing Lawsuit Multiple Times
It was not the first time Heard's team also requested to drop the defamation case before the trial began.
Last year, they filed the motion thrice before Judge Penney Azcarete served them with a disapproval notice, preventing the actress' lawyers from petitioning the Virginia Supreme Court to join the legal issues and help her dismiss the case.
"The defamation claim in the UK was based on completely different statements than the present case," Azcarete said in her 10-page opinion.
Heard's lawyers ultimately wanted the high court to discuss whether the case law supports combining the findings of the UK court about Depp allegedly abusing her on several occasions. However, the Judge just refused the attempt to dismiss Depp's counterattack.
