Johnny Depp ‘nearly won’, experts claims

According to analysts, Johnny Depp is gaining more support and winning in the court of public opinion, which may be more important than whether he wins his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

“When [Johnny Depp] stepped off the stand, I think he already won based on his definition of winning,” said Texas civil attorney Katherine Lizardo.

“Because he already obtained the favor of the court of public opinion … once he told his story.”

During the second week of the trial in Fairfax, Virginia, the Pirates of the Caribbean testified for four days — and then again for more than three hours on Wednesday. Because the 58-year-old has publicly stated his case, legal and public relations experts told The Washington Post that a jury finding in his favor isn’t as important.

“I think for Johnny Depp, winning the legal side of the defamation claim does not matter to him,” Lizardo told The Post. “Winning – it would just be icing on the cake for him because his main goal for filing the defamation lawsuit was to clear his name and to appeal to the court of public opinion.”

“Right now I think it’s undisputed that the court of public opinion favors him and heard him and are now supporting him. Whether or not he wins — I don’t think it matters to him or even to the court of public opinion,” Lizardo said.

California entertainment lawyer Mitra Ahouraian added that the case isn’t really about winning a defamation claim — but about clearing Depp’s name in the public sphere, as he’s said.

“This case is about using the courts as a platform to tell his side of the story and clearing the record and swaying the court of public opinion,” Ahouraian said.

“It’s more important than the actual lawsuit,” Ahouraian said. “Certainly winning the lawsuit helps because it would establish that something untrue was said about him and that’s a big deal.”

Depp’s legal team made it a point to confront Heard’s charges head-on, presenting his take on what transpired.

“He went into this knowing that all of this was going to come out,” Ahouraian said. “‘Fine, I do drugs, I battled addiction since I was young, but I am not a wife beater.’ And that’s all he’s trying to say.”