This Friday, after 25 days of hearings, the legal teams of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard gave their last arguments before the defamation trial moved to the next stage: jury deliberation.
The decision made by the six people that make it up will be based on all the evidence shown over the last six weeks, in addition to the text written by Amber Heard for The Washington Post in 2019.
Not reaching a unanimous conclusion today, the jury’s activity will be resumed next Tuesday, the day we could have news about the trial that began in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 11, where details of married life were revealed. between the actor and the actress, which included physical, psychological, and emotional violence, as well as infidelity, and drug and alcohol abuse, among others.
When it is decided whether Depp committed domestic violence on Heard or, on the contrary, she defamed her ex-husband, there will be certain actions that each will have to take to compensate for the damage done to the other.
What happens if Johnny Depp wins the trial?
If Amber Heard is found guilty of defamation, the actress must pay the 50 million dollars for which she was sued as compensation for all the projects that Depp lost, although the court could argue and the figure could be higher or lower depending on what they deliberate.
In addition, Heard‘s $100 million counterclaims would be dismissed, leaving her no longer entitled to request further review of the case.
There would even be the possibility of reopening the case against The Sun newspaper, since in 2019 a columnist for the publication called him a “wife-beater”, and request a higher financial remuneration.
This is not counting the public apologies that he probably received from the film studios from which he was fired after his legal situation was revealed between 2019 and 2020 and which separated him from characters like Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean or Gellert Grindelwald from Fantastic Animals.
What happens if Amber Heard wins the trial?
If Johnny Depp is found guilty of domestic violence, the counterclaim for 100 million dollars filed by the Aquaman actress would take effect and, therefore, her ex-husband would have to grant her this amount; however, the court could also step in and decide if you are given more or less than this amount.
In this case, the same thing could happen as in 2020, when Depp lost his trial against The Sun and had no opportunity to request an injunction or any legal situation that would allow him to reply. That is, the actor’s arguments would be invalidated again.
The actress can probably keep her role as Mera in the next Aquaman movies, as well as the one that is about to be released in 2023, so in terms of work, there would be no major change because, unlike Depp, she was never fired directly.
Whatever deliberation the jury takes next week, the reputation of both has been negatively marked by all the evidence and testimony that has come to light over the last six weeks. However, in Depp’s case, he could ‘clean up a bit if he is found to be innocent.
The legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard
This began because Heard wrote an article for The Washington Post in December 2019 in which he narrated that he suffered from domestic violence and presented himself as a victim of abuse, although he did not mention Depp’s name.
Later, the Fantastic Beasts actor had sued in London for libel against a newspaper columnist who called him a ‘wife beater’, which he lost, as well as permission to appeal the ruling.
He also filed a lawsuit in the United States for 50 million dollars for the same reason, now against his ex-wife: defamation.
In response to this lawsuit, Amber filed a countersuit for $100 million, and despite each requesting that the other person’s case be dismissed, both cases were given the green light to proceed, according to TMZ.