Amber loses again: no mistrial against Johnny Depp

The lawsuit filed by Amber Heard in the courts of Fairfax (Virginia) does not succeed. The actress's lawyers had asked for the annulment of the defamation trial against Johnny Depp, alleging fraud. According to them, in the configuration of the jury there was an attempt of fraud because one of the members of the jury attended instead of another. The key was that although they both had the same name and address, their birth dates were different. The juror who attended was 52 years old, while the one summoned should have been 77. They were father and son, and they were confused in the summons for the trial.

However, although the error has been recognized by Judge Penny Azcarate, this reason does not lead to the annulment of the defamation trial. It is true that the change was due to a procedural error: the father was summoned but, by mistake, the son attended. However, the judge maintains that in any case the objection should have been filed by Amber Heard's lawyers before. What's more, she insists that the lawyers have failed to argue how this change could have been fraudulent, since it does not influence the jury's deliberation. Therefore, in the absence of grounds for a mistrial, the verdict and sentence remain valid.

Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard

The actor couple has starred in one of the most mediatic lawsuits in the United States. Following an article published in The Washington Post (in 2018) in which she spoke of the alleged abuse she had been subjected to, her former husband decided to take her to court. As a result of this judicial process, Heard was ordered to pay a compensation of 10.3 million to Johnny Depp.

But not only that, Johnny Depp himself was also condemned in the trial. The actor must compensate his ex-wife with 2 million for the same reason: defamation. The cross accusations between the two after the breakup have been aired in different media, which has damaged his professional reputation.