There has certainly been a lot of news out of Fairfax, Virginia in recent weeks. After all, it was the location where Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, Amber Heard were fighting dual defamation cases against each other.
It all started in April, when Depp sued his former wife for $50 million. It had to do with statements that she made in the Washington Post back in 2018, calling herself the poster child for domestic abuse. On the other hand, she turned around and countersued for $100 million.
It took six weeks for the trial to run its course and eventually, it came to a close. That was on June 1, and it took 14 hours for the jury to deliberate and come up with a verdict, that Johnny Depp should be awarded $15 million.
In the end, Depp won’t quite get that much because Virginia does set a cap on punitive damages of $350,000. He will end up being awarded $10.35 million but he may not even get all of that.
Elaine Bredehoft was recently on the Today show and talked about how the legal team for her ex-husband had demonized her.
EXCLUSIVE: @SavannahGuthrie talks to Amber Heard’s attorney, Elaine Charlson Bredhoft, following Johnny Depp's legal win. pic.twitter.com/i1EOlz1NcU
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 2, 2022
She then went on to talk about the type of message that was being sent, saying: “It’s a horrible message, it’s a setback, a significant setback, because that’s exactly what it means.”
She went on to say: “And the court found there, and we weren’t allowed to tell the jury this, but the court found that Mr. Depp had committed at least 12 acts of domestic violence, including sexual violence against Amber. So what did Depp’s team learn from this? Demonize Amber, and suppress the evidence.”
One thing that has been of real concern is the possibility that the jury was confused as a result of what they may have read or seen on social media. Those items were allowed in court and Bredehoft felt that they should never have been inside a case such as this.
One of the things that was asked of the lawyer is if Heard would be able to pay the $10.4 million in damages. The response was: “Oh, no, absolutely not.”
A statement was then released on social media, in which Heard said that she was disappointed.
She said: “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband. I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women.”