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Amber Heard and her legal team have maintained that she lost the defamation trial against Johnny Depp due to the influence of social media and Depp’s star power.
But according to one juror’s account, the jury’s decision to award Depp a multi-million judgment may have had more to due with Heard’s comments on the witness stand. On Thursday, an anonymous juror told ABC’s “Good Morning America” why the seven-person jury discounted Heard’s testimony in the six-week trial.
The juror was identified as one of the five men on the jury. He said that Heard story’s “didn’t add up,” and members of the jury felt like she was 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.’”
Depp’s demeanor and testimony, meanwhile, resonated with the jurors. “A lot of the jury felt what he was saying, at the end of the day, was more believable,” the juror said.
“He just seemed a little more real in terms of how he was responding to questions. His emotional state was very stable throughout.”
The jury still “followed the evidence” to reach a verdict in the defamation case.
“Ultimately what I think is truthful was that they were both abusive to each other,” the juror said. “I don’t think that makes either of them right or wrong. 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.”
The juror also noted that despite claims of influence from social media, at least three of the jurors didn’t use sites like Twitter or Facebook.
In 2019, Depp filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed. While she did not reference Depp by name, Heard referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Earlier this month, the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages for her countersuit.
Photo: POOL via AFP / EVELYN HOCKSTEIN
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