Amber Heard has taken further legal action in relation to the defamation case against her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
The actress has asked the court to declare the six-week legal process a mistrial, claiming that the wrong juror appeared.
Heard’s attorneys contend that she is entitled to a mistrial based on newly found “facts and information that Juror No. 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022,” the five-page document filed in a Fairfax County, Virginia circuit court, showed.
Her legal team claimed that Juror No. 15 was actually 52 years old at the time of the trial, although the actual person selected for the jury was 77. According to court documents, both have the same last name and address.
The two jurors chosen by Fairfax County are local residents who are registered to vote. Therefore, information such as their names, birthdays, and addresses are included in their voter registration, US media said.
However, the younger person and not the elder one who was really summoned served as a juror during the six-week trial, Heard’s defense team argued.
“It is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in such as this,” the filing stated.
Lawyers also noted the “high-profile” status of the defamation trial “where the fact and date of the jury trial were highly publicized prior to and after the issuance of the juror summonses.”
According to the actress’ attorneys, she was not given “due process” and now requests the process to be declared a mistrial, demanding the court to conduct a new one.
The appeal comes one week after Heard’s attorney requested the court to overturn the verdict, which largely favored Depp. The Aquaman’s actress submitted a 43-page document to a Virginia court on July 2, saying the jury’s decision was not supported by proper evidence.
In Depp’s lawsuit against Heard last month, where he asked for $50 million in damages, the actor prevailed on all three counts of defamation over Heard’s 2018 op-ed about domestic abuse. A jury decided to give him $15 million in damages, but Virginia law capped punitive damages at $10.35 million.
The actress received $2 million in settlement for her counterclaims. She was seeking $100 million, accusing Depp of orchestrating a campaign to discredit her.
