Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial jury’s complicated questions

FAIRFAX, Va. — The jury in Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s bombshell defamation trial have been given a set of complicated questions to weigh as they determine the outcome of the high profile case.

The seven-person panel resumed deliberations in Fairfax, Virginia on Tuesday following a six-week trial where the testimony primarily focused on allegations of abuse that Heard says she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband.

But the jury hasn’t been tasked with determining whether or not Heard was abused.

They are weighing whether Heard defamed the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star when she wrote a Washington Post op-ed in 2018 describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

The jurors must decide whether specific passages in the newspaper article are defamatory — and the verdict form gives them step-by-step instructions on how to determine that.

In the first passage of her op-ed, Heard wrote that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath.”

In a second passage, she wrote, “I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.”

Depp’s lawyers are also seeking damages in the $50 million libel suit over the headline that appeared above Heard’s op-ed.

The jury — which must come to a unanimous decision for a verdict — has to consider whether each of the passages was about Depp, whether it has a “defamatory implication” and whether Heard intended for it to smear her ex-husband.

They also have to determine whether Heard acted with “actual malice,” which requires “clear and convincing evidence” that she either knew what she was writing was false or that she acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

While the article never even mentions Depp by name, his attorneys argue he was defamed nonetheless because Heard publicly accused Depp of domestic violence back in 2016 amid their bitter divorce.

During closing arguments Friday, Depp lawyer Camille Vasquez tried to suggest that if they think Heard is lying or embellishing her abuse claims that she can’t be trusted.

“You either believe all of it, or none of it,” Vasquez told the jurors. “Either she is a victim of ugly, horrible abuse, or she is a woman who is willing to say absolutely anything.”

Meanwhile, Heard’s lawyer Benjamin Rottenborn argued that Depp’s defamation claim must fail if Heard suffered even a single incident of abuse.

“If Amber was abused by Mr. Depp even one time, then she wins,” he said during his closing statements.

“A ruling against Amber sends a message that no matter what you do as an abuse victim, you always have to do more,” he said. “Don’t send that message.”

Her attorneys also argued that Heard has a First Amendment right to weigh in on domestic violence.