US actress Amber Heard (36) has failed in her application to have the verdict overturned in the defamation trial with her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Fairfax County Court Judge Penney Azcarate declined Wednesday to overturn the verdict and related claims for damages.
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Heard’s lawyers had requested this in view of possible procedural errors. They argued that the identity of one of the seven jurors had not been verified. Accordingly, a younger man belonged to the jury, although his father had been written to as a potential juror with the same name and address.
Azcarate, on the other hand, found that the juror had met all the requirements and had been confirmed by both sides before the trial began. There was no evidence of fraud or infringement, the judge wrote in her reasoning. The industry portal “Deadline.com” put the court documents online on Wednesday.
After a six-week defamation trial, in which the ex-husbands accused themselves of domestic violence, the jury largely sided with Depp at the beginning of June – but also agreed with Heard on some points. She has to pay Depp more than $10 million in damages for defamation.
Depp owes her $2 million for statements by his ex-lawyer that allegedly damaged Heard’s reputation, according to the jury’s decision.
At the core of the civil lawsuit filed by Depp was a 2018 comment published by the Washington Post in which Heard described himself as a victim of domestic violence. (dpa)
