Attorneys representing Amber Heard asked the court to declare a mistrial in the Johnny Depp defamation case. To those who don’t know, Depp is Heard’s ex-husband. In the court documents provided by Heard’s attorneys, they claim the information related to the jury panel present during the trial does not match the demographics of one of the jurors.
Juror 15 was born in 1970. However, the court documents claim that the summons to be a juror was for someone of the same last name born in the year 1945.
Last month, the jury awarded $15 million in damages to Depp and only $2 million to Heard.
The memorandum says, “Juror No. 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022. Therefore was not part of the jury panel and could not have properly served on the jury at this trial”. “Therefore, a mistrial should be declared and a new trial ordered”. In addition, the documents also state that Juror 15 and the one originally summoned live at the identical address. The filing continues to say, “As the Court no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this”. It is not clear if the court already knew about this error.
Last month, both Amber Heard and Johnny Depp were found liable for defamation in their lawsuits against each. The jury awarded $15 million in damages to Depp and only $2 million to Heard. In the filing done last week by Heard’s lawyers, they raised the issue regarding the juror. In addition, they also claimed that the $15 million awarded to Johnny Depp were excessive They also claimed that the evidence provided did not support the damages. Heard’s attorneys also accused Depp of relying on “time-barred and judicially privileged statements as the basis for his defamation by innuendo claims.”
Also read: ‘Sopranos’ star, Tony Sirico, dies at the age of 79
