Jury Still Deliberating Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard Trial

Published: 5/27/22
Updated: 5/31/22

After six weeks, several witnesses, and scores of eye-opening and meme-able moments, the dual defamation lawsuit pitting Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard moved into jury deliberation on Thursday, May 26. And it appears that the jury was given instructions by the Judge that could give Ms. Heard a leg up in said deliberation.

According to The Hollywood Reporter,

Jurors in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will not consider whether Adam Waldman, Depp’s former attorney who was kicked off of the case, had free speech protections when he made allegedly defamatory statements against Heard.

In a key ruling on jury instructions, the judge overseeing the case sided with Heard’s lawyers Thursday that Waldman does not qualify for privilege, a defense from defamation, because his statements were not in response to anything Heard said or wrote. 

Three days into deliberation, it was unclear how long the jury will need to make a decision, but it appears that the judge’s ruling towards Mr. Waldman’s statements eliminated the jury’s possibility of outright denying Ms. Heard’s $100 million defamation counterclaim against Mr. Depp.

Related: Fans Reject ‘Pirates 6’ without Johnny Depp

But while the jury debates on an official decision, the entirely televised case has allowed fans to make up their own minds and dispense their own ruling across the Twittersphere with an outspoken majority siding with the former star of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Mr. Depp has argued that the accusations Ms. Heard made against him in an OpEd published in the Washington Post were the catalyst for him becoming a pariah in Hollywood and losing iconic roles like Captain Jack Sparrow, and Gellert Grindelwald.

Several days later, it appears that the jury is still deliberating the outcome, and they must come to a unanimous decision.

In the meantime, it appears that Depp has found ways to keep himself occupied, including flying off to England to perform in a rock concert with Jeff Beck. Click the link below for more on that story.

Read More: Video: Johnny Depp Performs Rock Concert in UK While Jury Deliberates

We at Disney Fanatic will keep an eye on this case and will update our readers as soon as the jury reaches a verdict.