Johnny Depp Trial: LAPD Did Not Identify Amber Heard As Domestic Violence Victim

Actor Johnny Depp has been making headlines due to his defamation suit against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

The couple is facing each other at the Fairfax County Circuit Court. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor is suing his ex-wife for $50 million over a December 2018 op-ed Heard wrote for the Washington Post where she claims that she is a domestic violence survivor. Although she did not mention Depp by name, he claims that he has lost movie roles due to the “clear implication” that he was the “Aquaman” actress’ abuser. Heard is countersuing for $100 million dollars.

On Tuesday, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department took the stand to testify that he did not identify Heard as a victim of domestic violence.

Despite the photographs that have been submitted into evidence, LAPD officer Melissa Saenz told the jury on Tuesday that “I did not identify her as a victim of domestic violence,” when answering questions about Depp’s ex-wife, Amber Heard.

The 12-year officer of the force described entering the couple’s South Broadway home around 9 PM PT on the night of May 21, 2016. Saenz did not file a police report at the time of her visit and marked the incident as “closed,” stating that no crime had occurred at the residence.

In a pre-recorded video, Officer Saenz admitted that she did not take any notes or take any photographs inside their home. She noted that Heard was “red-eyed” and “crying” and did not make eye contact with them when they arrived. Saenz testified that she did not know who the L.A. penthouse belonged to, but described it as “impressive.”

In her July 2016 deposition, only two months after responding to the call, she said that she “interviewed Ms. Heard” and “closely examined her face.” Saenz said that she “found no marks, swelling, or injury to her face.” She claims that Heard “told her she was not hurt, not was Ms. Heard making a complaint against Mr. Depp.”

As Deadline reported, earlier in the day, a board certified forensic psychologist Dr. Shannon Curry told the court that she considered Heard to have Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder. Dr. Curry had been hired by Depp’s legal team and made her diagnosis after a 12-hour session with Heard last year.

Dr. Curry testified that she administered Heard with a test of 567 true/false statements. She told the jury that those with similar scores as Heard’s usually display traits such as inner anger, hostility, and externalization of blame. She explained that those with borderline personality disorder “can react violently; they can react aggressively.”

Dr. Curry said, “Often times they will be abusive to their partners in these situations.” She also claims that those with this disorder may sometimes use “administrative violence” or make threats that they will use the legal system to file a restraining order and claim that they are victims of abuse.

However, Dr. Curry noted that she never said that Heard “exhibits patterns of behavior that suggests her allegations of abuse against Mr. Depp are false.”

Psychologist Dr. Jessica Taylor told Deadline that Dr. Curry’s opinion was “predictable and lazy” and said that the Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis “has been used knowingly and deliberately weaponized against Amber Heard, just as it is against many women testifying against their male abusers in court.”

As The Blast previously reported, Depp testified that the photo above shows "some scratches" from another "altercation." He claims that Heard came at him "with her nails, with her hands, scratching at me." He said the photos were taken ten days before Christmas on December 15, 2015.

The "Sweeney Todd" actor claims that the scratches were the result of an "altercation" where Heard "had some rage issue with me and I remember I was trying to go to my corner." As he was approaching the door to his office, Depp claims that Ms. Heard ran out of the master bedroom and "started just throwing wild punches at me, at the back of my head, at the side of my head, anything that she could connect with."

Depp told the jury, "I tried to avoid the attack." Depp claimed that he got her into a "bear hug position" to try to stop the attack, but claimed that Heard was still "very angry, very animated."

"It was unpleasant," he added. He said that Heard later accused him of headbutting her and breaking her nose. "But there was no blood," Depp said. "I didn't hit her nose. If it was anything at all, it was a 'bump'... well, I'm trying to restain her. She's trying to get out of it. There's going to be some contact here or there. Accidental contact. Not a headbutt."

Heard is expected to take the stand to testify sometime before the trial ends in the next few weeks.