Jury begins deliberations in Johnny Depp-Amber Heard libel trial
Lawyers for Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard delivered their closing arguments to the jury on Friday, bringing the six-week libel trial to an end, NPR reported.
The jury began deliberations at around 3:00 p.m. on Friday, finished for the day at around 5:00 p.m., and will resume on Tuesday.
Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard identified herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."
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"We're asking you to finally hold this man responsible," Heard lawyer Elaine Bredehoft told the jury, pressing Heard's $100-million counterclaim. "He has never accepted responsibility for anything in his life." Heard's legal team has employed two main arguments. First, that Depp did abuse her. Second, that even if Depp did not abuse her, Heard's op-ed was not libelous because it did not mention Depp by name or directly address her allegations against him.
Depp lawyer Camille Vasquez told the jury Heard's allegations, which Depp denies, "ruined his life." Vasquez also argued that Heard, not Depp, was the abuser in the relationship.
MSNBC opinion columnist Liz Plank wrote that regardless of the verdict and regardless of who is telling the truth, the highly publicized trial has spread "damaging stereotypes about survivors" of domestic abuse.
