Johnny
Depp’s UK case against The Sun didn’t go well for him, and the choice to use
testimonies of people close to her Heard over independent witnesses, as well as
her connections to the judge, likely put the final nail in that coffin.
However, the subsequent US trial is being
headed up by the no-nonsense chief judge, Penney Azcarate: ‘A former marine with
many years of experience in law, and has in her time spearheaded an initiative
to create a specialty court designed to treat veterans suffering from mental
health and substance abuse issues. Now, she’s leading one of the most
high-profile cases of the decade.’
Thus far, she has already proved not to be a
fan of her and her defense team’s conduct, as they have thrice tried to have
the case thrown out of court, a desperate move that Depp’s team called “the
latest Hail Mary”. The judge allowed even the third but warning that it would
likely be futile and that if found to be wasting the court’s time, there would
be sanctions.
They’ve also tried to block any attempt to
ascertain whether or not Heard went through with her promised donation of her
divorce settlement to a children’s hospital. It was rightly pointed out that
Heard could easily and much less intrusively just give up the information of
her own accord, but she has refused to do so.
Well, the truth will out. Not only has the judge
denied the third request to throw the case out of court, but she’s also granted
Depp permission to pursue his request for information about Heard’s charitable
donations.
What
Others Say:
Krysten
Lynette
As someone who was abused by my ex-husband, I
can without a doubt say that once an abuser, always an abuser. And you don’t
just decide to be abusive. it’s done over time. the fact that not one of Depp’s
former partners has said he was abusive or violent when the opportunity
presented itself says volumes to me. yet heard has had many come forward to
talk of her being abusive. The fact that Depp has lost jobs while that witch
still has hers infuriates me, she’s still abusing him. they give all these
excuses but they ruined a man’s life, she ruined a person’s life. and any
person who says a man can’t be abused should just leave now because and frankly
if a woman is hitting and cutting anyone let alone this man, I think that man
has the right to defend himself against her and if that means slapping her to
get away, then slap away, that woman deserved much more than what she got.
woman using this you can’t hit me because I’m a woman as an out for abusing
someone grrrrr. ABUSE IS ABUSE IS ABUSE!
Gavin
Sutter
Charges are what a defendant is accused of in
a criminal case. This is, however, a continuation of civil law actions against
Heard. Depp, her former husband, sued a UK newspaper that called him a
‘wife-beater’. She was the star witness for the defense, and the paper won its
case on a ‘truth’ defense, effectively accepting on the balance of
probabilities (the required standard of proof in a civil case) evidence and
testimony the newspaper produced (including Heard herself) to the effect that
of over a dozen specific allegations of violence, all but two were accepted to
have taken place. Had Depp won his libel case the newspaper would have had to
pay him damages (and, subject to the judge’s discretion, his lawyers’ costs
too).
Thereafter, Depp’s lawyers have been pursuing
actions against Heard herself, including a claim that she has not acted in
terms with the claim she was going to donate the money she received in the
divorce settlement to charity. While attempts to be given leave to appeal the
libel ruling in England have been unsuccessful, the reputation management
issues involved in this new action are obvious. A number of commentators have
suggested that he might have had more chance of success in the English courts
had he sued Heard directly rather than the newspaper, but that’s largely
academic at this point.
The TL/DR version is that two people in the
public eye clearly had a very toxic relationship which eventually collapsed,
and a large amount of civil litigation has flown from there.
