THE WAR TRIAL IN HOLLYWOOD

The jury gives the victory to Johnny Depp because Amber Heard maliciously defamed him.
The verdict grants 15 million compensation to the actor while he must pay two because his agent said that everything was a montage of the actress .

The seven fair people (five men and two women) of the court of Fairfax (Virginia) reached a verdict in the civil case for defamation between Johnny Depp and Ambert Heard, who were once married and who have starred in the Hollywood war. The two crossed accusations of aggression and the jury gave a wide victory to Depp, considering that his ex-wife made three pronouncements in an article in 'The Washington Post' about sexual abuse and domestic violence that he has not proven to be true and that the maliciously to defame her husband.

In its verdict, the jury awarded $10 million in damages for that first defamatory statement and $5 million for the second. He claimed 50. On the other hand, Heard did not leave empty despite the apparent defeat, since they granted him two million in his counter lawsuit -in which he claimed 100 million dollars-, because Depp's agent assured in the 'Daily Mail' that his accusations were staged. The jury has not seen it the same way, as contradictory as it may seem.
The deliberation took 12 hours and 48 minutes and concluded with the evidence that freedom of expression does not cover everything and has its limits. The expectation was at its peak due to its uncertainty. That was even worse when Judge Penny Azcarate, after warning that she would not accept "any kind of fuss", sent the jury back to the deliberation room because they had forgotten to put the amount of the imdemizations. Amber Heard was in the room. Depp was not seen.

"The verdict means for women to return to a time when reporting abuse meant being humiliated and shamed," Heard said in a statement. "The disappointment I feel today is beyond words," she added. In his response, Depp complained that for six years his life and that of those around him have suffered from disrepute.

“False, very serious, criminal allegations were made against me and a hate bombardment was fired, although not a single charge was filed. This even traveled the world... And six years later, the jury has given me my life back," Depp stressed.

     "The verdict means for women to go back to a time when reporting abuse meant being humiliated and shamed."
        Amber Heard

This is the culmination of a six-week oral hearing featuring sensational and graphic accusations between husband and wife for less than 24 months, which has captured the attention of the United States and beyond and sparked a massive following online, in social networks whose resolution was clearly in favor of Depp, 53, while Heard was stigmatized as a villain. Things of glamor and popularity and, in this area, he has won by a landslide. He throws a lot of the histrionics of the "pirate of the Caribbean".

The trial has been broadcast on television and YouTube. This did not prevent a competition to get seats inside the courtroom. The majority of the public was in favor of Depp, many dressed in the actor's costumes in his films. At midnight there could be 150 people waiting for the ranch to open in the morning. There were many more lined up on the path.

It has also meant a turning point regarding the #MeToo movement, whose accusations have pilloried not a few relevant men who for a long time took advantage of women from their position of power. But this family conflict has served to glorify Depp and mock Heard.

Real images of her blowing her nose on TikTok have been transformed into gestures of snorting cocaine. That he help his lawyer Camille Vasquez in handling the phone emerges as a gentleman's gesture. He is depicted as always smiling and she as permanently aggrieved. There were attendees at the sessions who remarked that they had difficulty identifying with Depp, despite being admirers, but that, seeing that other couples of the actor spoke well of him, their conflict disappeared and they trusted Deep. Finding supporters of Heard was much more difficult.

Some analysts stressed that the Depp legend fed a large fan base, but on this occasion, in addition, online comments show that it has attracted the support of male (male?) activists, prominent figures of the media right, of Disney spoilers (for their support of transgender people), sexual abuse conspirators, alleged detectives or big media belittlers, and a troop of opportunists.

The origin of the case is found in an opinion article that Heard, 36, published in 'The Washington Post' in 2018 and in which he assured that he had been a victim of domestic violence and sexual abuse. He did not put the name of the alleged aggressor, but Depp immediately understood that he was the bad guy and that others also understood him that way.

Vazquez, who has become a media sensation, especially among Hispanics, called on the jury in its conclusions to "restore Depp's life and honor." The actor claimed compensation of 50 million dollars, although his legal team has always said that "this is not a question of money."

But J. Benjamin Rottenborn, Heard's lawyer, replied that Depp's lawsuit is nothing more than a smear campaign against her that started as soon as the interpreter of 'Aquaman' filed for divorce. Rottenborn countersued for $100 million when one of the attorneys called the abuse allegations "a hoax." Vasquez responded: “There is an abusive person in this room and it is not Mr. Depp.” Rottenborn indicated, however, his concern because belittling the claims of his sponsored means sending the wrong message to victims of domestic violence who are afraid of revealing the situation in which they live poorly.

This is war at home. Heard confessed under oath before the jury that he was a victim on a dozen occasions and that he suffered sexual assault. One of her most unpleasant moments occurred when she claimed that, in 2015, while in Australia, Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle and feared that she would break. "She had never been so scared in my life," she stressed. They had only been married a few months. "The man she loved was a monster," she said.

He insisted that he never physically abused his wife. "I never got to the point of attacking Heard, in any sense, nor have I ever hit any woman in my life," he said. And he gave another version of the bottle incident. It was she who threw that object at him, which It caused him to cut off a piece of his finger, which caused the postponement of the filming of one of the films in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.

His strategy was to turn the matter around. The photographs that she presented with bruises and wounds were actually pure makeup, as if they were the staging of another of her films. Heard acknowledged that she hit her ex-husband, although whenever this happened she did it to defend herself from her aggressiveness, a circumstance that she generally fired when he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In a previous London trial in 2020, a judge ruled that Depp repeatedly attacked Heard during their relationship. The hearing in the British court was due to the lawsuit that the actor made against 'The Sun', a tabloid in which it was published that Depp was an aggressor of women.

In Fairfax there were two trials. The one of public opinion has been won by Johnny Depp. That of justice, more or less too.