Johnny Depp Trial Win Stands For Now; Judge Rejects Amber Heard’s Requests For New Trial & Wrong Juror Probe

Dominic Patten
·3 min read
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Johnny Depp’s win last month in his big-bucks defamation trial against Amber Heard is staying in place, a Virginia judge ruled Wednesday.

“Defendant does not allege Juror Fifteen’s inclusion on the jury prejudiced her in any way,” Judge Penny Azcarate wrote in an order (read it here) released today rejecting the Aquaman star’s move to get the more than $10 million verdict in favor of her ex-husband tossed and a new trial ordered.

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“The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict,” said Fairfax County judge who oversaw the bitter six-week trial between the former couple. “The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury.”

In late June and last week, Heard’s Elaine Bredehoft-led attorneys filed paperwork with the court calling the damages awarded to Depp excessive, and casting the whole trial into doubt. “It appears that Juror No. 15 was not, in fact, the same individual as listed on the jury panel,” they said on June 8, seeking a new trial and an investigation into how a 52-year-old man took the place of the 77-year-old man who was actually summoned for jury duty.

Countering on July 11, Depp’s Brown Rudnick legal team called Heard’s stance “baseless” and “frivolous.” The Oscar nominee’s lawyers also said, very much like Azcarate has, that Heard’s side had ample time to address the wrong juror issue before and during the defamation trial.

“Due Process was guaranteed and provided to all parties in this litigation,” Azcarate said today of in her brief order. “Voir dire was conducted in a fair and impartial manner, with the Court and both parties examining the potential jurors. There is no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing.”

This shuts down Heard and her defense/countersuit team’s risky objection. However, in her final order, Azcarate did help set the stage for the inevitable formal appeal that the actress’ lawyers always promised was coming. Complicating an immediate move to appeal is the fact that at a June 24 final judgement hearing, a seemingly annoyed Azcarate insisted that Heard has to put up a $8.35 million bond to start the process — a sum Heard’s lawyers have said their client does not have at hand.

Neither representatives for Depp nor Heard  responded to request for comment on today’s order.

After a 2016 divorce that was peppered with a temporary restraining order and allegations of abuse, Depp sued Heard for $50 million in early 2019 over a 2018 Washington Post op-end about domestic abuse with her byline on it. Though the piece never mentioned Depp by name, the actor claimed it “devastated” his already waning career. In court filings and on the stand, Depp went on to claim that he was in fact the one who was abused in the relationship.

In late 2020, Depp lost a UK libel suit against Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid for calling him a “wife beater.” That trial was barely brought up during the Virginia trial. Having launched a $100 million countersuit in the summer of 2020 after failing repeatedly to get the Virginia defamation case dismissed, Heard herself was awarded $2 million in damages June 1 by the seven-person jury for one of her own trio of defamation claims.

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