Johnny Depp’s Lawyers Counter Amber Heard’s Request For Retrial

In court documents submitted on July 8 in the circuit court of Fairfax County, Va., the Aquaman actress‘ lawyers claimed one of the jurors who partook in the case was not supposed to be there in the first place, per Deadline.

“Ms. Heard had a right to rely on the basic protection, as prescribed by the Virginia Code, that the jurors in this trial would be individuals who were actually summoned for jury duty,” the partially redacted filing reads. “In this case, it appears that Juror No. 15 was not, in fact, the same individual as listed on the jury panel. Ms. Heard’s due process was therefore compromised. Under these circumstances, a mistrial should be declared, and a new trial ordered.”

Heard’s attorneys allege that two people with the same last name live at the address where the summons was sent in April: a 77-year-old and a 52-year-old. The older individual was called to serve on the jury but, according to Heard’s lawyers, the younger one showed up to court.

“Thus, the 52-year-old sitting on the jury for six weeks was never summoned for jury duty on April 11 and did not ‘appear in the list,’ as required,” reads the motion.

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Johnny Depp’s Lawyers Debate Against Heard’s Mistrial Request

In a court filing Monday, obtained by Variety, the actor’s attorneys responded to Heard’s request for a retrial, asking the court to deny her “frivolous motion in its entirety and reject her outlandish requests to set aside the jury verdict.”

“Though understandably displeased with the outcome of trial, Ms. Heard has identified no legitimate basis to set aside in any respect the jury’s decision,” reads the documents, obtained by Variety. “... Here, the verdict was well supported by the overwhelming evidence, consistent with the law, and should not be set aside. Mr. Depp respectfully submits that the Court should deny Ms. Heard’s Post-Trial Motions, which verge into the frivolous.”

“The court should reject Ms. Heard’s baseless contention that the damages award was excessive and supported by evidence,” they added.
Johnny Depp’s Lawyers Said Heard Knew About The Wrong Juror From The Start

According to Depp’s lawyers, Heard’s team was given a pre-panel jury list on April 6, “five days before the jury was empaneled,” which they said, “gave Ms. Heard ample time to verify the accuracy of the information contained therein.”

“Ms. Heard’s desperate, after-the-fact demand for an investigation of Juror 15 based on a purported error in his birth date… is misplaced,” Depp’s lawyers said in the filing. “As a threshold matter, Ms. Heard waived her right to challenge the accuracy of the information listed in the jury panel by failing to raise this objection contemporaneously.”

Could Amber Heard Get A Mistrial

They add, “In a rare moment of candor, Ms. Heard admits that she was aware of this purported discrepancy in Juror 15’s birth year from the very start of trial because ‘Juror 15 … was clearly born later than 1945.’ … Ms. Heard chose not to raise this alleged ‘discrepancy’ with the Court during the voir dire process or at any time during the six-week trial and thereby waived it.”

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Furthermore, Depp’s team argued that Heard’s lawyers failed to prove that the alleged juror mix-up compromised her right to due process. Assuming for the sake of argument “Ms. Heard’s latest thesis, that a son served instead of his father, there would be no prejudice, as Juror 15 was qualified to serve as a juror in Fairfax County and was vetted during voir dire by the Court and the parties’ counsel, just as all of the other jurors were.”

The trial began in Virginia in April and concluded last month in Depp’s favor. The jury ruled that Heard defamed him and awarded him $15 million in damages. Heard scored a small victory in her defamation countersuit, receiving $2 million in compensatory damages and no punitive damages. The verdict stood in stark contrast to the ruling in Depp’s failed 2020 lawsuit against The Sun, wherein he sued the British newspaper for calling him a wife-beater.

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