Amber Heard appealing verdict in Johnny Depp defamation trial
Virginia jury in June awarded $10 million in damages to Depp
Actress Amber Heard is appealing the jury verdict in the multimillion dollar defamation case she lost to her former husband, “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp.
Lawyers for the 36-year-old Heard, who starred in the movie “Aquaman,” filed a notice of appeal on Thursday with the Virginia Court of Appeals.
“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment,” a spokesperson for Heard said in a reference to the constitutional amendment protecting free speech.
“We are therefore appealing the verdict,” they said in a statement.
“While we realise today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”
A Virginia jury in June awarded $10 million in damages to Depp after finding that a 2018 newspaper column penned by Heard was defamatory.
The 59-year-old Depp sued Heard over a Washington Post op-ed in which she did not name him, but described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Heard, who counter-sued, was awarded $2 million.
The jury reached the verdict after an intense six-week trial riding on bitterly contested allegations of domestic abuse.
The case, live-streamed to millions, featured lurid and intimate details about the Hollywood celebrities’ private lives.
Earlier this month, a judge rejected Heard’s demand for a new trial — sought on grounds that one of the seven jurors was not the man summoned for jury service but his son, in a case of mistaken identity.
Heard’s lawyers had asked Penney Azcarate, the judge who presided over the trial, to set aside the jury verdict and declare a mistrial, but she denied the request.