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Judge Denies Amber Heard’s Attempt To Have Defamation Case Dismissed
“She’s the abuser in this courtroom, Depp’s lawyer screamed.
Amber Heard took to the witness stand on Wednesday, and just as her defamation case began, her lawyers urged Judge Penney Azcarate to dismiss it, claiming Johnny Depp had not proven his claims. Benjamin Rottenborn insisted if the court agreed Depp abused Heard ‘even one time,’ she wins, and it’s that simple.
Rottenborn also said the evidence Depp abused Heard physically and verbally has been overwhelming and undisputed.
He argued the defamation claim should be stricken on the basis that Depp failed to establish ‘falsity of statement’ during his case in chief. But in a fiery response, Depp’s lawyer Benjamin Chew said his client had come forward with several credible witnesses, documents, and even authentic tape recordings of Miss Heard.
Chew emphasized the evidence satisfied all requisite elements and went the extra mile to show Miss Heard physically abused Depp.
Raising his voice, Chew stated: “She’s the abuser in this courtroom!”
Of the dismissal request, Judge Azcarate denied one regarding two statements in the Washington Post op-ed because there was a scintilla of evidence a jury might find that they were defamatory. She also held off ruling on a third statement in the op-ed because the relevant evidence had not been brought in yet.
Judge Penney Azcarate denied the motion to strike in regards to two statements in #JohnnyDepp‘s defamation case but said she will take the first statement that deals with a retweet of #AmberHeard under advisement. @LawCrimeNetwork pic.twitter.com/yjvQJPNqAH
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) May 3, 2022
Rottenborn further argued if the case moves on, the op-ed headline should be stricken as Heard didn’t write it.
The headline of Heard’s article had read: “I spoke up against sexual violence and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
Today I published this op-ed in the Washington Post about the women who are channeling their rage about violence and inequality into political strength despite the price of coming forward.
From college campuses to Congress, we’re balancing the scales.https://t.co/dBSwuJBtay— Amber Heard (@realamberheard) December 19, 2018
Rottenborn also stated Depp had failed to prove that Heard acted with actual malice in writing the article and told the court it was a gatekeeper of the First Amendment and should dismiss the case. Yet again, Chew weighed in and said the most convincing/disgusting evidence was from emails sent by the ACLU to the Washington Post pitching the idea of the piece.
Chew shared that in an email, an ACLU executive had told a Washington Post editor it was written by Heard, who ‘as you may recall, was beaten up during her brief marriage to Johnny Depp.’
Chew said the ACLU assisted Heard in a lie about it afterward and called the civil rights group a co-conspirator with Miss Heard, which played a frankly reprehensible role in the case. He further claimed Heard told the ALCU to put it back in and make it spicier, referring to an illusion to Depp. “Without that, the piece would have ended up in Teen Vogue as no one was interested in what she had to say unless she was defaming Mr. Depp,” Chew said.
He then called out for failing to pay her $7milion divorce settlement to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, with half going to each.
According to Chew, everybody and his grandmother knew that Heard was referring to her restraining order against Depp with the op-ed and called it just a scam to get $7million from the divorce settlement that she pocketed instead of giving it to charity as she pledged. He concluded: “Witness after witness has testified that Miss Heard, far from being a figure representing domestic violence, is a recidivist perpetrator of domestic violence on Mr. Depp and others.”
