Amber Heard moves to appeal verdict in Johnny Depp defamation case

Notice to appeal has been filed in Virginia

Amber Heard has officially moved to appeal the verdict in the defamation case which opposed her and Johnny Depp in Virginia.

Ms Heard’s attorney on Thursday (21 July) filed a notice to appeal with the Virginia Court of Appeals.

The notice specifies that Ms Heard is appealing the verdict rendered in the case on 1 June and entered into a final order on 24 June by Judge Penney Azcarate, as well as an order dated 13 July in which the judge denied post-trial motions by Ms Heard’s legal team, through which they had asked the judge to dismiss the verdict.

The notice of appeal also includes “all additional orders and rulings by the trial court” prior to those two orders.

Full appeal documents are expected to follow.

The defamation trial, which began on 11 April in Fairfax, Virginia, and made headlines for weeks as it was televised in full, stemmed from a complaint filed in March 2019 by Mr Depp agains his ex-wife.

Mr Depp alleged that Ms Heard had defamed him in an op-ed published in The Washington Post, in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. Ms Heard filed a counter-suit in November 2020, asking to be granted immunity against Mr Depp’s claims.

On 1 June, a jury overwhelingly found in Mr Depp’s that Ms Heard had defamed Mr Depp in three statements. Jurors also found that an attorney for Mr Depp defamed her in one of three statements highlighted in her counter-suit. Mr Depp was awarded $10.35m in damages, while Ms Heard was awarded $2m.

Ms Heard’s legal team declared their intent to appeal the verdict shortly after it became known.

Earlier in July, Ms Heard’s attorneys asked Judge Azcarate to set aside the verdict and to either set aside the complaint or order a new trial. The judge declined to do so and upheld the verdict.

A spokesperson for Mr Depp said in a statement: “The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr Depp in multiple instances. We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand.”

A spokesperson for Ms Heard said: “We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment. We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”