Key moments in the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial

Might 24 (Reuters) – Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are suing one another for defamation, every claiming they had been abused earlier than and through their roughly two-year marriage. Heard’s crew rested the protection case on Tuesday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday.

Under are key moments within the trial to date:

— Depp testified that he by no means hit Heard or every other lady. He stated she was the one who turned abusive and “bullied” him with “demeaning identify calling.”

“If I stayed to argue, ultimately, I used to be certain it was going to escalate into violence, and oftentimes it did.”

— The pair supplied differing accounts of an early 2015 argument in Australia, the place Depp was filming a fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.

Depp stated Heard threw a vodka bottle that severed the highest of his proper center finger. The actor stated he went into shock and used blood from his damage to put in writing messages to Heard on the wall.

Heard denied injuring Depp and stated she was the one harmed that night time. Talking by way of sobs, she informed the jury that Depp sexually assaulted her by inserting a liquor bottle in her vagina. “I used to be scared,” she stated. “I had simply married him.”

— Just a few months later, Heard stated, Depp broke her nostril and ripped out chunks of her hair throughout one other violent encounter.

— Heard’s attorneys launched images that they stated confirmed accidents after numerous arguments, together with scars on her arm that had been seen as she posed on a crimson carpet, and redness and swelling round a watch. A Depp lawyer confirmed pictures from public appearances across the time of their fights. The images appeared to point out no accidents, and Depp’s attorneys urged Heard edited images to make the redness extra pronounced. Heard stated she by no means edited the images.

— Depp testified that feces had been discovered within the couple’s mattress in 2016. One in every of his safety guards stated Heard informed him it was “a horrible sensible joke gone improper.” Heard denied any involvement and urged one of many couple’s canines was accountable.

— Heard’s attorneys launched textual content messages wherein Depp known as Heard a “filthy whore” and stated he wished her lifeless.

Writing to actor Paul Bettany in 2013, Depp stated: “Let’s drown her earlier than we burn her” and “I’ll fuck her burnt corpse afterward to ensure she is lifeless.”

Reporting by Lisa Richwine

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