Depp lawyer accuses Heard of faking tears in ‘performance of her life’
After closing arguments concluded in Amber Heard’s defamation trial in the case brought against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp Friday (27 May), the jury began deliberating on the six weeks of testimony before being sent home for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The jurors will resume deliberation on the high-profile civil case on Tuesday (31 May).
Heard is being sued by Depp for $50m for implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Although she didn’t name him, he claims her allegations impacted his ability to work. She is pursuing a counterclaim of $100m.
In Depp’s closing argument, his lawyers asked jurors to “give him his life back” after he claims it was “ruined” by Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse. They alleged Heard would rather be in a fight than let the actor leave, called her claims an act of profound cruelty to true survivors, and said that she gave the performance of her life on the stand.
Heard lawyer said a ruling in favour of Depp would make jurors an “accomplice” to his abuse and to his “campaign of global humiliation”, and called out the actor for “laughing” and “snide comments” during closing, adding he engaged in “victim-blaming at its most disgusting”.
