Johnny Depp has scored another win against his ex-wife Amber Heard. The actress and her legal team requested that the judge throw out the verdict in the defamation trial due to a juror error, but a Virginia judge determined that the ruling would stay in place and rejected her request for a new trial, per Deadline.
According to part of the statement from Judge Penny Azcarate, “Defendant does not allege Juror Fifteen’s inclusion on the jury prejudiced her in any way. “The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict. The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury.” You can read the judge’s full statement HERE.
Heard and her legal team filed paperwork in late June and last week that called the damages awarded to Johnny Depp excessive and looked to a potential juror error because the juror was allegedly not the one summoned. Their statement read, “It appears that Juror No. 15 was not, in fact, the same individual as listed on the jury panel.” They sought a new trial and an investigation into how a 52-year-old man took the place of a 77-year-old man who was summoned for jury duty.
Depp’s legal team shot back at the claim on July 11 by calling Heard’s stance “baseless” and “frivolous.” His lawyers also said Heard’s side had plenty of time to address any issues with the wrong juror being summoned before and during the initial defamation trial.
“Due Process was guaranteed and provided to all parties in this litigation. Voir dire was conducted in a fair and impartial manner, with the Court and both parties examining the potential jurors. There is no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing.”
This is another blow to Amber Heard’s attempt to overturn the pricey defamation ruling against her. That being said, the judge set the stage for an inevitable formal appeal that is likely coming on Heard’s side. What’s complicating the appeal, however, is that at a June 24 final judgment hearing, the judge insisted that Heard has to put up an $8.35 million bond to start the process, and that’s a sum Heard’s lawyers say the actress simply doesn’t have at this time.
At this point, if Heard wants to keep fighting this, it looks like the actress will have to fork over a lot of money, and she doesn’t have that on hand at the moment. I’m not saying she’s giving up because she seems very determined to keep this going, but this represents a major snag in her plan.
What are YOUR thoughts on these latest developments?