After a six-week trial, a civil jury in Virginia, USA is deliberating defamation claims by Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard.
The trial has featured lurid testimony with express particulars concerning the film stars’ quick and risky marriage.
However what’s the case actually about? And what is going to the jury must resolve?
READ MORE: Jurors halt Johnny Depp-Amber Heard deliberations
Johnny Depp’s lawsuit
Depp filed a $US50 million ($69.5 million) defamation swimsuit in opposition to Heard, alleging a 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Publish broken his popularity and harm his profession.
Within the article, Heard described herself as “a public determine representing home abuse.” Depp is just not talked about by title within the article, however his attorneys argued that it was clear she was referring to Depp, provided that she had publicly accused him of home violence throughout their 2016 divorce proceedings.
Heard’s attorneys mentioned a lot of the article focuses on public coverage on home violence and that she had a First Modification proper to weigh in on that topic. In addition they preserve that Depp did in actual fact abuse Heard.
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Abuse allegations
In the course of the trial, Heard has described greater than a dozen particular cases when she says Depp abused her, together with her allegation that he sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle in an alcohol-fuelled rage.
Depp has denied any bodily or sexual abuse, and says Heard concocted the claims to destroy his popularity. He additionally claimed that she bodily attacked him on a number of events.
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The jury’s job
The seven-member jury should resolve if two passages and the headline of the article are defamatory.
The jury verdict type offers jurors directions on learn how to decide that, together with by asking them whether or not the statements have been about Depp, have been false and had a defamatory implication about him.
As a result of Depp is a public determine, Heard can solely be discovered responsible of libel if the jury decides that she acted with “precise malice,” which means that she both knew what she wrote was false or that she acted with reckless disregard for the reality.
Heard’s attorneys informed the jury Depp’s libel declare should fail if Heard suffered even a single incident of abuse.
Heard’s lawsuit
Heard filed a $US100 million ($139.1 million) counterclaim in opposition to Depp after his former lawyer known as her allegations a hoax. The counterclaim has obtained much less consideration through the trial, however Heard’s lawyer informed jurors it offers an avenue for the jury to compensate Heard for the abuse Depp inflicted on her by orchestrating a smear marketing campaign after they cut up up.
The jury verdict type asks the jury to resolve if Depp’s former lawyer, performing as an agent for Depp, made or revealed three statements that have been about Heard, have been false and have been seen by somebody apart from Heard.
The jury should additionally resolve if Depp’s lawyer made the statements with precise malice.
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