Ben Chew and Camille Vasquez, the attorneys who represented Johnny Depp within the latest defamation trial in opposition to his ex-wife Amber Heard, have made joint discuss present appearances following the conclusion of the trial.
On Wednesday, the 2 joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “The At this time Present” to debate the case, which ended final week with each Depp and Heard being awarded compensatory damages, albeit with Depp receiving considerably extra.
On “Good Morning America,” the attorneys have been requested by George Stephanopoulos about two factors introduced up a number of occasions by Heard’s camp and victims’ advocate teams. When requested if social media swayed the jury, Chew responded, “Social media performed no position in any respect. This was a call made by the jury on the proof offered by either side, and as Camille stated [earlier in the interview], it was overwhelmingly in Mr. Depp’s favorite.”
Savannah Guthrie requested the duo an identical query on “At this time,” they usually stated that though social media and the 24/7 information cycle are unavoidable, they consider the jury was not swayed.
“No, I do not assume there’s any purpose to consider that the jurors violated their oath” Chew stated. “And once more, that suggestion was disappointing to listen to [from Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft].”
“It’s in all places, however on the similar time, they have been admonished each single night time,” Vasquez stated. “They’d an amazing quantity of respect for the court docket and the method, they usually have been doing they finest that they may.”
Stephanopoulos additionally requested the pair about criticism that the decision can have, as he paraphrased victims’ advocate teams, “a chilling impact on home violence victims and it is a blow to the #MeToo motion.”
“I feel our response to that’s we encourage any sufferer to come back ahead,” Vasquez stated. “Home violence does not have a gender.” When pressed additional, she continued, saying, “We don’t [think is has any negative impact to the #MeToo movement]. We consider that the decision speaks for itself, the info are what they have been, the jury made a unanimous choice based mostly on these info.”
The trial started when Depp, the plaintiff within the case, sued Heard for 3 counts of defamation, claiming that an op-ed she printed within the Washington Submit in 2018 broken his popularity and stalled his profession, although he was not talked about by identify within the items. A yr previous to the op-ed’s publication, Heard and Depp divorced after two years of marriage. Heard has alleged that Depp abused her all through the connection.
In 2020, previous to the American trial, the Excessive Court docket of London dominated in opposition to Depp in a separate defamation case spawned by Depp suing The Solar for writing concerning the abuse allegations. The UK court docket dominated that he assaulted Heard in 12 of 14 alleged incidents. Regardless of the earlier verdict, the jury within the US trial dominated in favor of all three counts of defamation introduced by Depp and dominated in favor of just one rely of defamation introduced by Heard in her counterclaim.
The decision has prompted vital controversy within the days following the trial. Heard’s lawyer Bredehoft, throughout a chat present look of her personal on “At this time,” has publicly said her shopper plans to enchantment the decision.
Previous to the Chew and Vasquez’s appearances, a spokesperson for Heard despatched an announcement relating to their appearances to Selection.
“It’s as unseemly as it’s unprofessional that Johnny Depp’s authorized crew has chosen to do a victory lap for setting again many years of how girls will be handled within the courtroom,” the assertion reads. “What’s subsequent? A film deal and merchandising?”
Because the trial reached its verdict, Heard has largely stayed out of the general public eye, releasing solely a single social media statement. Depp has been far more lively, saying a brand new collaborative album with Jeff Beck and becoming a member of TikTok, the place he thanked his “loyal followers” for his or her help.