Amber Heard's attorneys say juror served improperly in Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial
Jul 11, 2022
Washington [US], July 11 : A juror in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard libel trial wrongfully surrendered, an attorney for Heard claimed in a recent filing, asking the court to declare a mistrial and order a new trial.
"Newly discovered facts" show Juror No. 15 in the six-week trial was not the individual summoned in April to serve in the case, Heard's attorney wrote in a five-page memo filed Friday, July 8, in Virginia's Fairfax Circuit Court, as per Billboard.
Instead, the record suggests that juror no 15 was a younger individual with the same surname and 'apparently' living at the same address.
"As the Court, no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this," the filing said.
Depp sued his ex-wife over a December 2018 comment Heard wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." Much of the testimony focused on whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she claimed. Depp said he never hit Heard and that she was the perpetrator.
After a televised trial that turned into a spectacle, the jury ruled in favour of Depp on all three of his allegations related to certain statements in the 2018 article.
The jury ruled that Depp be awarded USD 10 million in damages and USD 5 million in punitive damages, but the judge reduced the punitive damages to USD 350,000, under a state cap.
Heard has previously announced that she will appeal the verdict.
The memorandum expanded on the post-trial motions filed by Heard's legal team asking the judge to overturn the sentence against them. These motions had raised the possibility that one of the jurors had not been properly examined by the court.
As per Billboard, the latest filing said a 'jury panel list' in the case included a person who would have been 77 at the time of the trial. Voter registration information lists two individuals with the same last name 'apparently' residing at the same address, said the filing, in which the names were redacted.
"The individual who appeared for jury duty with this name was obviously the younger one. Thus, the 52-year-old ... sitting on the jury for six weeks was never summoned for jury duty on April 11," violating Heard's due process rights, the filing said.
