“We followed the evidence,” an anonymous juror told ABC News of the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard defamation trial, denying being influenced by social media
An anonymous juror who sat on the defamation trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard insists that social media had nothing to do with the verdict he and the six other jurors came to.
Earlier this month, the seven-person jury sided mostly with Depp, 59, and awarded him more than $10 million in damages, deciding that Heard defamed him in a 2018 op-ed about becoming a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” though she did not mention Depp by name. Additionally, they awarded Heard, 36, $2 million in damages on one of her three defamation countersuit claims.
In a conversation with ABC News that aired Thursday morning, one of the five male jurors said that despite Heard and her attorney Elaine Bredehoft’s claims to the contrary, social media did not play a part in the jury’s decision.
“We followed the evidence,” the juror alleged. “Myself and at least two other jurors don’t use Twitter or Facebook. Others who had it made a point not to talk about it.”
Following the June 1 trial verdict, Bredehoft told Savannah Guthrie on the Today show that her client was “demonized” during the trial and that internet favor was “absolutely” in Depp’s corner, which she believes affected the outcome of the case.
And although jurors weren’t supposed to scan social media during breaks from the courtroom, Bredehoft said, “How can you not? They went home every night, they have families, the families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judicial conference. There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it.”
“And it was horrible — it really, really was lopsided,” the attorney continued. “It was like the Roman Colosseum, how they viewed this whole case.”
In her own conversation with Guthrie, 50, the Aquaman actress said, “Even somebody who is sure I am deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I am lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation.”
“You cannot tell me that you think this has been fair,” Heard added.
In his comments to ABC News, the anonymous juror said he also believes that “a lot of Amber’s story didn’t add up” and “the majority of the jury felt she was more the aggressor.”
“The crying, the facial expressions that she had, the staring at the jury. All of us were very uncomfortable … ” the juror said. “She would answer one question and she would be crying and then two seconds later she would turn ice cold … ”
“Some of us used the expression ‘crocodile tears,’ ” he added.
“Ultimately,” according to the juror, “what I think is truthful was that they were both abusive to each other.”
“I don’t think that makes either of them right or wrong,” he said. “But to rise to the level of what she was claiming, there wasn’t enough or any evidence that really supported what she was saying.”
Heard has said she doesn’t blame the jury for their verdict, telling Guthrie in their interview that aired in part this week that she understands where they came from.
I don’t blame them, I actually understand,” Heard said. “He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.””
But, when Guthrie reminded Heard that the jury’s “job is to not be dazzled … and look at the facts and evidence,” Heard replied, “Again, how could they, after listening to three and a half weeks of testimony about how I was a non-credible person, [and] not to believe a word that came out of my mouth?”
Meanwhile, Judy Bellinger — who served as the court reporter and was called a “rockstar” by Judge Penney Azcarate — told Law & Crime Network earlier this month that a “few” of the jurors drifted asleep at points during the trial.
“There were a few jurors who were dozing off,” she said, adding that the sleeping jurors were in both the front and back rows. “And it was tough. There were a lot of video deposition, and they would just sit there and all of a sudden I’d see their head drop.”
The juror’s names will be sealed for at least one year, the judge previously ruled.
[via]
