A judge from Fairfax, in the US state of Virginia, rejected this Wednesday (13) the appeal filed by Amber Heard, with which the actress asked for the annulment of the defamation trial against Johnny Depp and the actor against her because one of the jury members appeared in place of another.
Although Judge Penney Azcárate admitted the error in her answer, she also said that the Heard’s lawyers should have filed the objection earlier and pointed out that there was no discernible intent of fraud, which is why there would be no reason to overturn the verdict.
According to Heard’s defense, a of the jurors of that jury, and therefore involved in the verdict, was 52 years of age when the original record of the person summoned referred to another of 77 years with the same name and address.
The court confirmed the exchange explaining that the two were father and son and that, in fact, the younger man appeared in place of the older one.
Still, the judge argued that Heard’s lawyers were unable to argue how the “inclusion of this person could have harmed her in any way.”
“The only evidence for the court is that this person jury, like the rest, has fulfilled its oath and the orders of the court, which is subject to its verdict,” he concluded.
The sentence in this media trial, handed down unanimously by the jury on June 1 , maintains that three sentences written by Heard in an opinion piece published in 2018 by The Washington Post newspaper defamed Depp, although the actor also once defamed his ex-wife through his then-lawyer.
The jury found the two Hollywood stars liable for the defamation, but ordered Heard to pay $10, 3 million in damages to Depp and that the actor pays only US$ 2 million.
Agreement
The actor reached an agreement on Monday with which he will avoid going to Judgment against a member of the fi team Image that accused him of assault when he said a scene could not be filmed due to lack of permission.
The complaint was filed by Gregg Brooks, who worked on the set of the movie “City of Lies” and who claimed that Depp hit him when, on 13 April 2017, he informed the actor that he only had one last attempt to shoot a shoot in a specific place, since they could not stay longer.