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​‘Crocodile tears’: Juror calls out Amber Heard ​

A juror in Johnny Depp’s defamation case has revealed why Amber Heard’s testimony made the jury “very uncomfortable” and how they reached a verdict.

A juror in Johnny Depp’s defamation case has revealed the jury was “very uncomfortable” with Amber Heard’s testimony because there was a lack of evidence to support it and she appeared to cry “crocodile tears”.

One of the jurors from the seven-person panel, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told ABC News exclusively 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, the staring at the jury, all of us were very uncomfortable,” the male juror said.

“She would answer one question and she would be crying and two seconds later she would turn ice cold … some of us used the expression ‘crocodile tears.’”
 

US actor Amber Heard testifies during the Depp vs Heard defamation trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia. Picture: Michael Reynolds / AFP.
US actor Amber Heard testifies during the Depp vs Heard defamation trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia. Picture: Michael Reynolds / AFP.

The jury didn’t buy Heard’s testimony and thought she had “crocodile tears”, one of the jurors said in a post-trial interview. Picture: Michael Reynolds / AFP.
The jury didn’t buy Heard’s testimony and thought she had “crocodile tears”, one of the jurors said in a post-trial interview. Picture: Michael Reynolds / AFP.

Depp, meanwhile, kept his composure and was more believable, according to the juror.

“He just seemed a little more real in terms of how he was responding to questions. His emotional state was very stable throughout,” he said.

The juror added that he felt both sides were “abusive to each other,” but doesn’t believe that “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,” he said.

 

 

The biggest blow to Heard’s credibility in the eyes of the jury was the “fiasco” revelation she hadn’t donated US$7 million from her divorce settlement to charity as she told a UK talk show she had, the juror continued.

Heard told the trial that she “pledged the entirety” to the charity, despite earlier claiming it had already been donated.

“The video shows her sitting there telling the host she gave all that money away. And the terms she used in that video clip were ‘I gave it away,’ ‘I donated it,’ ‘it’s gone.’ But the fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all,” the juror said.

“The fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all.”

It comes after Heard declared she still loves Depp despite doubling down on her testimony that he viciously abused her during their marriage and claiming that he made good on a promise to globally humiliate her.

Amber Heard’s stunning TV confession

In Heard’s first interview since the verdict in the defamation case, NBC Today journalist Savannah Guthrie asked the actress if her pre-trial statement that she has “still (has) love for” Depp stands “after everything”.

“Yes, absolutely,” Heard responded in a teaser of the interview, set to air in full on Friday in the US.

“I love him. I loved him with all my heart and I tried the best I could to make a broken relationship work and I couldn’t.

“I have no bad feelings or ill will towards him at all.

“I know that might be hard to understand or it might be really easy to understand if you’ve ever loved anyone.”
 

Amber Heard sat down for her first post-trial interview on NBC's Today Show.
Amber Heard sat down for her first post-trial interview on NBC's Today Show.
 

Heard added that she “stand(s) by every word” of her testimony, including that Depp physically and sexually abused her with a wine bottle during their marriage.

“To my dying day, I will stand by every word in my testimony,” Heard continued.

“I never had to instigate it — I responded to it,” she insisted, saying that audio clips of their fights were edited and caught a victim of abuse whose life was “at risk”.

“When you’re living in violence and it becomes normal — as I testified to — you have to adapt.”

Still, she conceded, “I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship.

“I behaved in horrible, almost unrecognisable to myself, ways.

“I have so much regret,” she said, blaming it on “being pushed to the extent where I didn’t even know the difference between … right and wrong.”
 

US actor Johnny Depp gestures to spectators in court after closing arguments at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia. Picture: Steve Helber / AFP.
US actor Johnny Depp gestures to spectators in court after closing arguments at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia. Picture: Steve Helber / AFP.
 

Heard: Jury fell for a ‘fantastic actor’

Heard told Guthrie that she “feels as though” Depp delivered on his promise to subject her to “global humiliation” – as he threatened in a message admitted as evidence in court.

“I’m not a good victim, I get it,” she said.

“I’m not a likeable victim, I’m not a perfect victim.”

The jury in the high profile trial between Depp and his ex-wife Heard ruled in favour of the Pirates of the Caribbean star after a six week trial in Fairfax County, Virginia on June 1.

The jury found that Heard defamed Depp in a 2018 Washington Post article – in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” – that they agreed was false, defamatory and with malice, on all counts, and awarded him US$15 million damages, comprised of $10m compensatory and a further $5m punitive.

Heard told Guthrie that she doesn’t blame the jury for not believing her testimony.

“I actually understand,” she said.

“He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.

“I’ll put it this way, how could they make a judgment, how could they not come to that conclusion.

“They had said in those seats and heard over three weeks of non-stop, relentless testimony from paid employees and towards the end of the trial, randos, as I say.

“Again, how could they after listening to three-and-a-half weeks of testimony about how I was an uncredible person and not to believe a word that came out of my mouth.”

The Aquaman star said she “would not blame the average person for looking at this and how it’s been covered and not think that it is Hollywood brats at their worst”.

She said the marriage was “ugly” — but also at times “very beautiful.”

“We were awful to each other. I made a lot of mistakes — a lot of mistakes,” she continued.

“But I’ve always told the truth.”
 

Heard hugs her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft after the jury announced split verdicts mostly in favor of her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Picture: Evelyn Hockstein / AFP.
Heard hugs her lawyer Elaine Bredehoft after the jury announced split verdicts mostly in favor of her ex-husband Johnny Depp. Picture: Evelyn Hockstein / AFP.
 

Speaking to Guthrie – who last week revealed her husband had done consulting work with Depp’s legal team – Heard also commented on the intense scrutiny of her six-week trial and the overwhelming support for Depp on social media. The hashtag “Justice for Amber Heard” garnered 27 million views on TikTok, compared with one for Depp which hit 20 billion views.

“I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors,” Heard told Guthrie.

“I don’t presume the average person should know those things. And so I don’t take it personally. But even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m 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 that this has been fair.”


Author: Editors Desk

Source: News Corp Australia Network:

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