Johnny Depp’s attorneys rest in defamation case against Amber Heard

Attorneys for Johnny Depp rested on Tuesday after 13 days of testimony in the actor's $50 million (about €48 million) defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

In court in Virginia on Tuesday, Ms Heard's attorneys demanded the judge dismiss the action.

Without jurors present, Ms Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn asked the judge, Penney Azcarate, “to strike the plaintiff’s evidence and award summary judgment in whole or in part to Ms Heard”.

Mr Rottenborn argued that Mr Depp abused Ms Heard in “non-physical” ways, pointing to alleged evidence of emotional, mental and psychological abuse presented in recordings and “menacing statements”, outside disputed incidents of a physical nature.

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The petition to dismiss was largely procedural. After hearing counterarguments from Mr Depp’s counsel, Ms Justice Azcarate ruled the trial would proceed.

Mr Depp alleges that a 2018 op-ed Ms Heard wrote with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is not a defendant in the case, defamed him and caused him to lose work. In the op-ed, which does not mention Mr Depp by name, she called herself a "public figure representing domestic abuse".

The jury heard from more than two dozen witnesses called by Mr Depp’s attorneys, including three days of testimony by Mr Depp himself. Many, including several security guards, testified about explosive verbal fights between Mr Depp and Ms Heard.

Mr Depp claims Ms Heard resorted to violence and that he never physically abused her.

Erin Falati, Ms Heard’s nurse, appeared via pre-recorded video, telling the court Ms Heard said she had issues with cocaine and alcohol.

“I recall a general sense of discord in the relationship . . . disagreements, reconciliation and kind of that repeating pattern,” Ms Falati said.

Ms Heard’s coping skills, the court was told, involved “compulsive anger and yelling”.

A note from Ms Falati displayed in court showed an instance when she saw Ms Heard bleeding from her lip, allegedly after an altercation with Mr Depp.

Mr Depp’s final witness, the forensic accountant Mike Spindler, estimated that Mr Depp lost $40 million in earnings as a result of Ms Heard’s Washington Post article in which she described herself as a survivor of domestic abuse.

Mr Depp’s attorneys claim Ms Heard’s article not only deprived him of new movie roles, including the sixth instalment of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but affected his profit participation in films already made.

Opening statements

The trial is in its fourth week. Ms Heard’s lawyers said in opening statements that she was physically and sexually abused by her then husband on multiple occasions.

Ms Heard is expected to take the stand after jurors hear from a clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr Dawn Hughes.

Dr Hughes’s testimony is expected to contest claims made by a Depp witness, Dr Shannon Curry, who told the court that in her analysis of Ms Heard, relying on previous medical notes and her interpretation of a personality survey involving 567 true-false questions and a single examination, the actor has borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.

The court has heard tapes of Mr Depp accusing his former wife of borderline personality disorder during verbal disputes.

Ms Heard’s mental health expert, Dr Hughes, has reportedly made her own evaluation of Ms Heard that is expected to contradict Dr Curry’s opinion.

Dr Hughes has testified as an expert in abusive relationships in the trials of the Nxivm cult founder, Keith Raniere, and singer R Kelly.

The trial continues. – Guardian