JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Amber Heard asks for mistrial in Johnny Depp defamation case; Alleges wrong person served as a juror
Amber Heard's legal team filed new legal documents, claiming that the wrong person served on the jury in the Johnny Depp Defamation case, which the latter won by a sweeping victory.
The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard legal drama just refuses to die down! In another twisted turn of events, Amber Heard's legal team filed new legal documents on Friday, i.e. July 8, in Fairfax County, Virginia Court alleging that a wrong person served on the jury duty in the Johnny Depp defamation case, which the Pirates of the Caribbean star won by a sweeping victory against his ex-wife.
Entertainment Tonight obtained the legal docs in which Amber Heard's team has pointed out the apparent legal snafu. An unidentified 77-year-old living in a Virginia address was summoned to jury duty, however, Heard's team claims that an unidentified 52-year-old, who lives at the exact same address and shared the exact same last name as the unidentified 77-year-old, showed up for jury duty instead. After which, the unidentified 52-year-old somehow managed to serve as a juror, getting picked for the six-week controversial trial. The Aquaman 2 actress' team further alleged that the unidentified 52-year-old was "never" summoned for jury duty on April 11 and didn't appear on the jury list as required. Hence, Amber Heard's team argued that a mistrial should be declared and a new trial should consequently be ordered.
The document reads: "Based on newly discovered facts and information that Juror No. 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022, and therefore was not part of the jury panel and could not have properly served on the jury at this trial," before adding, "Therefore, a mistrial should be declared and a new trial ordered." the 36-year-old actress' team pointed out how the court has safeguard measures to ensure that the person arriving for jury duty is the person called, citing the Fairfax County's Juror Questionnaire webpage, as per which, all residents are required to log in with a 7-digit Juror number, zip code and birth date. "When these safeguards are circumvented or not followed, as appears to be the case here, the right to a jury trial and due process are undermined and compromised," the document stated.
Amber Heard's team also argued that their client "has a right to rely on the basic protection, as prescribed by the Virginia Code, that the jurors in this trial would be individuals who were actually summoned for jury duty. In this case, it appears that Juror No. 15 was not, in fact, the same individual on the jury panel. Ms. Heard's due process was therefore compromised."
For the unversed, Amber Heard's attorney had recently asked the judge to toss the Johnny Depp defamation trial verdict alleging that the evidence presented in the case didn't support said verdict, even raising concerns about how one of the jurors wasn't properly vetted. As per the June 1 verdict, made official by Judge Penney Azcarate, Johnny Depp was awarded USD 10 million in compensatory damages and USD 5 million in punitive damages, which were reduced to USD 350,000 in accordance with the state's statutory cap.
For her counterclaim, Amber Heard was awarded USD 2 million by the jury in compensatory damage, but nil in punitive damages. Depp was found liable by the jury after the 59-year-old actor's attorney referred to Heard's claims as a "hoax."
