Johnny Depp chuckled as a front desk attendant at the building where he lived with Amber Heard grew exasperated during a pre-recorded deposition shown in court.
The deposition of Alejandro Romero shown in court on Wednesday was recorded in January of last year, and he appeared to be taking part in the interview from his car.
Mr Romero worked at the Eastern Columbia Building in Los Angeles where Ms Heard made domestic violence calls on 21 May 2016, prompting two separate visits from police officers, who found no evidence of abuse.
The defamation trial between Mr Depp and Ms Heard began on 11 April in Fairfax, Virginia following Mr Depp’s lawsuit against his ex-wife in March 2019. Mr Depp is arguing that she defamed him in a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.
Mr Romero was questioned by Heard lawyer Elaine Bredehoft and said that he saw Mr Depp a couple of times.
When asked when Ms Heard started living in the building, Mr Romero said, “it’s been so long I just can’t remember”.
While they never had a “close relationship”, Mr Romero said Ms Heard was “really friendly” and “would always smile”.
“When is the first time that you recall anyone saying anything to you about the police being called ... because of a domestic dispute between Depp and Heard?” Mr Romero was asked.
He said 21 May 2016 was a Saturday and that he wasn’t working, adding that he became aware of the incident the following Monday as he checked the surveillance footage, adding that he saw Mr Depp pacing in the elevator.
He said a woman in the gym heard a disturbance from the penthouse. In footage dated to 8.29pm on 21 May 2016, Mr Depp can be seen with two other men in the elevator.
Mr Romero said Mr Depp appeared to be “agitated”, adding that the actor was “really calm” most of the time and that he didn’t witness any injuries to Ms Heard.
Mr Depp laughed when Mr Romero recalled being asked to check the apartments were safe by Ms Heard and her friend Rocky Pennington.
He then added, “I’m tired ... I don’t want to deal with this court case ... everybody’s got problems and I don’t want to deal with this no more”.
When asked if he saw marks on Ms Heard’s face in the days after, he said he looks people in the eye when speaking to them but that he’s not looking “to find something like ... ‘oh you’re make-up’s wrong ... you’ve changed your eyebrow, or your eyelashes or not as even’”, prompting a smile from Mr Depp in the courtroom.
“I’m not looking for anything ... but if I see something I will probably remember it,” he added.
Towards the end of the deposition, Mr Romero appeared to start driving. When the recording had been turned off, Judge Penney Azcarate said that had been a “first”. Ms Bredehoft said it was “the most bizarre deposition”.
In her 2018 op-ed, Ms Heard wrote that “like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim”.
“Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,” she added at the time.
While Mr Depp isn’t named in the piece, his legal team argues that it contains a “clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser”, which they say is “categorically and demonstrably false”. Mr Depp is seeking damages of “not less than $50m”.
Ms Heard has filed a $100m counterclaim against Mr Depp for nuisance and immunity from his allegations.
