Washington: The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation case nears its end with all eyes now turned to the Fairfax County Circuit Court for the jury to announce their verdict.
The seven-member jury must decide if two passages and the headline of the article are defamatory. The jury verdict form gives jurors instructions on how to determine that, including by asking them whether the statements were about Depp, were false and had a defamatory implication about him. Because Depp is a public figure, Heard can only be found guilty of libel if the jury decides that she acted with “actual malice,” meaning that she either knew what she wrote was false or that she acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Heard’s lawyers told the jury Depp’s libel claim must fail if Heard suffered even a single incident of abuse.
Actress Amber Heard could face jail over claims, she edited injury photographs in her court feud against Johnny Depp. Defamation lawyer Aaron Minc warned that “more and more objective evidence that she is lying about things under oath” could lead to a sentence for the ‘Aquaman’ actress, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Despite telling the website JOE “a few days ago” he didn’t think there was any chance Heard could face prosecution for anything she had said on the stand during her ex-husband Depp’s defamation trial, Minc admitted to having a change of heart as the case hurtled towards its conclusion.
“I think that, as this case goes on, and we start seeing more and more objective evidence that she is lying about things under oath,” he said, “that’s when it starts crossing the line into the possibility that she is fabricating evidence, fabricating photos, fabricating bruises, altering evidence and then submitting it.”
Minc warned fabricating evidence is not only “really serious” but also “really offensive” to the justice system. He said, “I would hope that prosecutors would take a close look at it because if there is very clear evidence that she did that, that should certainly be considered.”
“If it was proven that that was the case,” he added, “and there’s certainly some questions being raised in the trial currently, that could potentially lead to a criminal prosecution and jail time.”
