Amber Heard Continues Johnny Depp Legal Drama With Move Everyone Saw Coming
The infamous Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard defamation court case may last longer than we thought. Back on June 1, after more than a month of testimonies, the jury found Heard guilty of defamation against Depp for an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post about her alleged experience with domestic violence — the Hollywood couple was married for two years from 2015 to 2017. Depp sued The Sun in 2020 for libel due to them publishing that he was a "wife beater" because of Heard's claims in the op-ed, but Depp ended up losing that lawsuit. So when Depp took the lawsuit to the United States in 2022, he filed directly against Heard. And this time, the jury was more convinced by Depp's stellar legal team's argument.
After the verdict was read, both Heard and her lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, gave interviews with major news organizations — like CBS — about injustices they suspected had influenced the case. For example, Heard told CBS that she believed "[Depp's] lawyer did a better job at distracting the jury from the real issues." Then, earlier this month, the judge denied a motion that Heard filed to call a mistrial based on the idea that one of the jurors had taken their jury summons from someone else in their household, per Variety.
Now, Amber Heard has taken another legal step to try to prove her side of the story.
Amber Heard appeals her guilty verdict
This whole legal conflama took six weeks to play out in court, and now Amber Heard is trying to fight the jury's guilty verdict against her. In court documents obtained by Daily Mail, Heard filed an appeal, which if approved would mean that the case would be heard again by the next-highest court level. "We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment," a source working for Heard told TMZ. "We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today's filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice."
But how likely is the appeal to go through, especially when you consider that her motion for a mistrial was struck down? In a report by Time magazine, their legal experts explained that the appellate courts are unlikely to "reassess credibility judgments made by juries," which is exactly what the jury did in the Heard v. Johnny Depp case.
In any case, it looks like Depp's team isn't worried about this new filing. "The jury listened to the extensive evidence," a spokesperson told Deadline. "And came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in multiple instances. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand."