Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial: Jury reaches verdict

• Johnny Depp sued his former wife Amber Heard for $50 million.
• Heard countersued for $100 million, claiming that she had only ever used violence against Depp in self-defense or to protect her younger sister.
• The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.

On Wednesday, a seven-person jury reached a decision on Johnny Depp’s defamation claim against his former wife Amber Heard.

Depp, who was absent from court on Wednesday owing to a previously planned business commitment, sought $50 million in damages after Heard claimed she had become a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in a 2018 opinion-editorial column in The Washington Post. Despite the fact that the essay did not reference Depp by name, his lawyers claim it alluded to claims she made against him during their 2016 divorce.

Heard countersued for $100 million, claiming that she had only ever used violence against Depp in self-defense or to protect her younger sister. Heard’s countersuit was based on three statements made to the Daily Mail in 2020 by Depp’s former attorney, in which he called Heard’s allegations of abusing a “hoax.”

Read more: ‘Johnny Depp has taken enough of my voice,’ Amber Heard claims

The panel began discussions on Friday and reached a verdict after about 13 hours of deliberation over three days. The high-profile trial, which lasted about six weeks in Fairfax County, Virginia, was broadcast nationwide and garnered a lot of attention.

Due to the higher standard, that a plaintiff must prove, defamation actions filed in the United States by popular personalities, such as an actor, are commonly regarded to be difficult cases to win.

In 1964, the Supreme Court declared that anyone suing for defamation must show not only that the accusations were untrue and caused them to harm, but also that the person who made the defamatory statement did so with “actual malice.”