Amber Heard’s lawyer said the
actress was “demonized” throughout the lengthy defamation
trial against her ex Johnny Depp, and blamed the vitriolic social
media campaign against Heard for influencing the jury’s decision following
the verdict.
On Wednesday, following three
days of deliberations after the televised six-week trial, the jury sided with
Depp, awarding him more than $10 million in total damages in the civil suit;
Heard also won one of the three claims in the $100 million countersuit against
her former husband and was awarded $2 million.
The outcome was the opposite
of the verdict in Heard and Depp’s previous defamation trial in the U.K., which
the actress won. Speaking to the Today show the morning
after the Fairfax County verdict, Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft explained
that, unlike the previous trial, much of Heard’s evidence was “suppressed,”
while Depp’s legal team introduced “a number of things… that should
not have been allowed, and it caused the jury to be confused.”
“That’s because [Heard] was
demonized here,” Bredehoft said, adding that the verdict sent a “horrible
message” to people who also claim to have suffered physical and mental abuse.
“It’s a significant setback because that’s exactly what it means. Unless you
pull out your phone and you video your spouse or your significant another beating you, effectively you won’t be believed.”
Over the course of the
six-week trial, jurors were instructed to not engage with social media,
where a “demoralizing and demeaning” campaign of viral videos attacked the
actress on TikTok, as well as Twitter and Instagram. However, Bredehoft
believes that, despite being warned to stay off the platforms, jurors were
still likely swayed by what was happening online.
“There’s no way they couldn’t
have been influenced by it, and it was horrible. It really, really was
lopsided,” Bredehoft told Today. “It’s like the Roman Colosseum how they
view this whole case. I was against cameras in the courtroom, and I went on
record with that and had argued against it because of the sensitive nature of
this, but it made it a zoo.”
As for the $10.3 million in
damages — in addition to the $10 million in compensatory damages, the jury awarded $5 million in punitive damages was subsequently reduced to
$350,000, the most allowed based on Virginia law — Bredehoft said that Heard
was “absolutely not” able to pay the amount, and would likely appeal
Wednesday’s verdict.
