Amber Heard’s lawyers have stepped up their demands for a new trial in her multimillion-dollar defamation case with Johnny Depp following claims of “improper juror service”. In documents filed on Friday, the Aquaman star’s legal team said that “newly discovered facts and information” about an individual juror meant that a mistrial ought to be declared.
Lawyers said that one of the individuals originally summoned to serve in the trial had not appeared and had been replaced by someone else. “Juror No 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022, and therefore was not part of the jury panel and could not have properly served on the jury at this trial,” the documents, seen by the PA news agency, stated.
The documents continued: “As the Court no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this. This was a high-profile case, where the fact and date of the jury trial were highly publicised prior to and after the issuance of the juror summonses.”
