Johnny Depp's courtroom victory over ex-wife Amber Heard is being viewed by legal experts not just through the twists and turns of the courtroom drama but also for the wider implications the jury's verdict will have in the larger world.
Several experts deemed the verdict in the dueling defamation cases — in which Depp was the winner — a step back for the #MeToo movement and said it highlighted a distrust and dislike of Heard. Some feared it could set back the cause of women who complain about abuse by powerful men.
After a six-week trial, the jury found that Heard had defamed her former husband in a Washington Post opinion piece and acted with malice by casting him as a domestic abuser. The damage, Depp said, cost him millions of dollars and starring roles after decades as an A-list actor.
