Johnny Depp’s lawyers discuss the verdict on several morning shows
Chew and fellow Depp lawyer Camille Vasquez appeared Wednesday on GMA and “Today” on NBC. Vasquez added on GMA that “the key to winning was focusing on the facts and the evidence and Johnny’s opportunity to tell the truth for the first time.” She said the result was “six years in the making.”
A Fairfax County Circuit Court jury found on June 1 that Heard defamed Depp with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic violence. Heard did not name Depp in the article. Depp, who sued Heard for $50 million, was awarded $15 million (although he will receive $10.35 million, as Virginia law limits punitive damages to $350,000). Heard was awarded $2 million after the jury ruled in favor of a counterclaim that Depp’s former attorney, Adam Waldman, defamed her.
The week-long trial was streamed live online, contributing to a social media frenzy – mostly in support of Depp. Vasquez has become a Depp fan favorite and a central figure on TikToks over the affair. The videos vilified Heard, calling her a liar over Depp’s claims that she abused him. In a recent Post article, music producer and activist Drew Dixon, one of many women who have accused tycoon Russell Simmons of sexual assault, said she was alarmed by the “dizzying derision” directed at Heard on line.
A statement issued ahead of Wednesday’s interviews by Heard’s team said: “It is as unseemly as it is unprofessional that Johnny Depp’s legal team chose to take a victory lap for rolling back decades the way in which women can be dealt with in the courtroom. What next? A movie and merchandising deal?”
Vasquez said on GMA that she found Heard’s team’s statement “disappointing” because “we’re only talking about what happened in this case, right?” After Stephanopoulous noted that lawyers are also concerned the verdict could discourage abuse victims from speaking out about their experiences, Vasquez said Depp’s lawyers “encourage any victim to come forward.” Domestic violence has no gender.
Hearing attorney Elaine Bredehoft made the rounds of the morning show last week, appearing on “Today” and “CBS Mornings.” She told ‘Today’ co-anchor Savannah Guthrie that Heard planned to appeal the verdict – noting that the actress “had excellent grounds for it” – and said Depp’s lawyers were able to “remove “certain evidence, such as medical evidence. documents supporting Heard’s claims.
Bredehoft also said Heard’s team was not allowed to tell the Virginia jury that Depp had lost a libel case against British tabloid The Sun, which he sued for calling him a “drummer.” woman”. In that late 2020 trial, a judge found enough evidence to support 12 of Heard’s 14 domestic violence allegations.
On Wednesday’s “Today” show, Guthrie asked Depp’s team to respond to Bredehoft. Vasquez said the UK case was a “different process” and each side had “different disclosure obligations” in the recent trial.
“We disagree,” Vasquez said. “The overwhelming evidence that was presented in this case in Virginia far exceeded what was presented in the UK, and we believe the jury got it right.”
Depp’s lawyers have denied that his team orchestrated social media campaigns against Heard, describing the theory as “categorically false”. Chew said the jury mostly sided with Depp because he “owns his issues”, while the jurors “may have perceived that [Heard] took no responsibility for anything.
The day before Depp’s lawyers appeared on TV, Depp made headlines for joining TikTok, where he amassed 8.7 million followers the following morning. In a caption to his first video, he thanked his “most valued, loyal and unwavering supporters.”