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Google PlayA verdict has been reached in the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation case.
The jury, per a report from the Associated Press, ruled in favor of Depp in his widely publicized lawsuit against Heard. The jury found that Depp had, among other things, proven elements of defamation and that Heard “acted with actual malice.”
Also announced on Wednesday were compensatory damages in the amount of $10 million and punitive damages of $5 million, in Depp’s favor. On one Heard v. Depp count, it was determined that defamation had occurred, resulting in the awarding in Heard’s favor of $2 million in damages. This was in connection with public comments a Depp lawyer had made about her allegations.
Heard was in attendance; Depp was not in the courtroom at the time due to a “previous commitment” elsewhere, per ABC News. Jurors were temporarily dismissed, however, when Judge Penney Azcarate noted that damages-related information had not been specified correctly on related forms. The verdict was announced shortly after.
Earlier on Wednesday, jurors in Virginia entered their third day of deliberations in the case, coverage of which has been near-constant since the trial began in April. Depp initially sued Heard for $50 million for alleged defamation in 2019 in connection with her Washington Post op-ed. Heard later countersued Depp for $100 million.
In the Post piece, published in December 2018, Heard spoke on having become “a public figure representing domestic abuse” two years earlier. “I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,” she said at the time. Depp’s name is not mentioned in the piece, which is a detail Heard’s legal team noted during the trial.
In a statement shared following Wednesday’s verdict announcement, Heard said the disappointment she feels is one that’s “beyond words.” She also pointed to what she said was a “mountain of evidence” in the case.
“It is a setback,” Heard said. “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.”
Depp also shared a statement on the verdict, saying the jury “gave me my life back.”
During testimony in the Wednesday-decided case, Heard detailed alleged instances of abuse from Depp. Depp, meanwhile, has maintained that Heard was the abuser in their relationship.
