According to analysts, Johnny Depp is gaining more support and coming out on top in the court of public opinion, which might be more crucial than whether he wins his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
“When [Johnny Depp] stepped off the stand, I think he already won based on his definition of winning,” said Texas civil attorney Katherine Lizardo.
“Because he already obtained the favor of the court of public opinion … once he told his story.”
During the second week of the trial in Fairfax, Virginia, the Pirates of the Caribbean testified for four days — and then again for more than three hours on Wednesday. The 58-year-old has publicly stated his case, and legal and public relations experts told The Washington Post that a jury verdict in his favour isn’t as important.
“I think for Johnny Depp, winning the legal side of the defamation claim does not matter to him,” Lizardo told The Post. “Winning – it would just be icing on the cake for him because his main goal for filing the defamation lawsuit was to clear his name and to appeal to the court of public opinion.”
“Right now I think it’s undisputed that the court of public opinion favours him and heard him and are now supporting him. Whether or not he wins — I don’t think it matters to him or even to the court of public opinion,” Lizardo said.
California entertainment lawyer Mitra Ahouraian added that the case isn’t really about winning a defamation claim — but about clearing Depp’s name in the public sphere, as he’s said.
“This case is about using the courts as a platform to tell his side of the story and clearing the record and swaying the court of public opinion,” Ahouraian said.
“It’s more important than the actual lawsuit,” Ahouraian said. “Certainly winning the lawsuit helps because it would establish that something untrue was said about him and that’s a big deal.”
Depp’s legal team made sure to address Heard’s allegations against him head-on, giving his perspective on what happened.
“He went into this knowing that all of this was going to come out,” Ahouraian said. “‘Fine, I do drugs, I battled addiction since I was young, but I am not a wife beater.’ And that’s all he’s trying to say.”
[embedpost slug=”/no-obvious-winner-in-defamation-trial-johnny-depp-vs-amber-heard/”]
