Matrimonial and family law attorney Valentina Shaknes and former assistant U.S. attorney Neama Rahmani weigh in.
Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the punitive damages to Virginia’s statutory cap of $350,000.
Heard is already eyeing an appeal, but what are the chances she actually goes through with it?
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; MICHAEL REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
If she does, would she even have a shot at winning?
(Interviews were conducted separately and combined.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Were you surprised by the verdict?
Johnny Depp.Kevin Dietsch/Getty
NEAMA RAHMANI:It was surprising.
Depp was likable, he was credible, and Heard was not.
I think the jurors saw through that and they punished her as a result.
Amber Heard.MICHAEL REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
VALENTINA SHAKNES:I was surprised.
And then of course on top of that, Johnny got punitive damages.
So yes, I was surprised by the results.
What were some of the factors that made Heard appear not credible?
NR:Let’s talk about Heard’s testimony.
She testified that she thought Depp was going to kill her.
She testified that Depp hit her so many times that she lost count.
She described an attempted murder, a felony assault.
What we saw at best was a misdemeanor battery.
The other issue was that Heard accepted no responsibility for what happened.
The jurors heard her on video and audio being verbally abusive.
Witnesses testified too, saying that this was a mutually toxic relationship.
But what did Amber say?
She said she only hit Johnny once during thatinfamous staircase incident.
I don’t know if it was narcissism.
I don’t know if it was bad legal advice.
So overall, he was more credible.
The jury found him more believable.
Is there one piece of evidence that the jury found so compelling?
I seriously doubt it.
What made Depp’s defense stronger than Heard’s?
NR:If you want to boil it down to two factors: credibility and likability.
The jurors loved him.
The public loved him.
Everyone on social media loved him.
Whereas Amber didn’t admit anything and seemed to lie about even unnecessary facts.
I made this promise.
I was unable to fulfill it," the jurors maybe would have found her credible.
Compare that to Johnny, who admitted to saying that he wanted to havesex with his ex-wife’s corpse.
He said he was upset and was venting to a friend.
So I think it’s the cumulative impact of all of that.
It’s not so different from the court of public opinion.
Depp asked for $50 million and got $15 million, what does that say?
NR:The damages in this case, especially for Amber Heard, were highly speculative.
Depp testified that hemissed out onPirates 6because of the op-ed.
Well,the Disney witnesssaid that the decision not to cast him had nothing to do with the op-ed.
They didn’t even know about it.
And that being said, a $10 million compensatory verdict, that’s pretty significant.
That’s a lot of money.
The jury was composed of five men and two women.
Do you think this could have factored into the decision?
That’s why whether it’sWeinsteinorCosby, the defense in those cases wanted women.
It’s not the case that men tend to punish women.
I would want as many women on the jury as possible.
But we actually don’t know if maybe the two women were much more pro-Johnny than the five men.
There’s no way for us to know.
But there’s certainly a perception of bias.
How do you think this will impact people, namely women, coming forward?
VS:I think you have to look at it in a broader setting.
In this situation, Amber was given as many opportunities as Johnny was.
This was a six-week trial where both were given time to testify and present evidence.
No, I don’t think so at all.
And then it’s up to the victims and to the accusers.
NR:It’s certainly the beginning of the accused going after their accusers.
Many times, the accused, they’re rich and powerful men.
They have the money to file these lawsuits, and oftentimes the women accusers do not.
Is this going to have a chilling effect on actual victims coming forward?
Can Heard appeal, and how does that work?
you could only appeal a legal error.
As a 20-year trial lawyer, the judge called it pretty fairly.
I can’t think of one clear legal error that was made in this case.
And the issues of credibility are really reserved to the purview of the juries and appellate divisions.
Appellate courts are very, very reluctant to do a reassessment of credibility findings.
What are her chances on appeal?
In most states, it’s high.
So Amber cannot discharge the judgment in bankruptcy because Depp proved that Heard acted with malice.
Intentional torts or intentional acts aren’t dischargeable in bankruptcy.
So that jury finding is important.
The also jury found that Depp, via his lawyer, defamed Heard by calling her allegations a hoax.
VS:The best way to translate it is that I think the jury wanted to give Amber something.
Well, the evidence revealed that Heard didn’t call LAPD.
The call came from someone in New York.
It wasn’t a hoax.
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
