Hand Surgeron Testifies Johnny Depp's Injury Does Not Fit His Allegations

Actor Johnny Deppand ex-wife Amber Heard continue to make headlines as the defamation trial continues.

The couple has been facing each other at the Fairfax County Circuit Court for most of the past month. 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 her abuser. Heard claims that she has also been losing out on movie roles, including several scenes from the upcoming “Aquaman” sequel, and is countersuing for $100 million dollars.

On Monday morning, an orthopedic surgeon was first on the stand to give his expert testimony on the injury that Johnny Depp sustained in Australia.

Dr. Richard Moore was the first up on the stand on Monday morning. Moore is an orthopedic surgeon who has been licensed in North Carolina since 1996.

Moore testified that he had taken part in "hundreds if not more" hand surgeries that resembled the injury that Johnny Depp sustained in Australia.

Moore said that he studied a "tremendous" amount of information about the injury, including medical records, photographs, emails, and text messages concerning the injury.

Moore described the injury as a "crush" injury and told the jury that the fingernail was more or less intact. He testified that there should have been an injury to the fingernail if the injury had come from the top.

The jury was shown graphic images of Depp's injured finger. Moore concluded that if the injury happened as Depp alleged, where Heard had thrown a bottle that cut off his finger, there should have been damage to the fingernail. He answered "no" when asked if the photographs supposed Depp's allegations.

Moore said the doctors did a "good job" of photographing the hand after the injury and noted that the transverse fracture happened at the very tip of the finger.

Moore said he found no injuries to any part of Depp's hand, which he testified was "not consistent" with a "glass explosion" and felt that Depp's hand should have shown "other lacerations" if the events unfolded as Depp alleged, as there were no glass shards found in other parts of the hand or other fingers. Moore said that Depp's allegations were "not consistent" with the findings.

Dr. David R. Spiegel was the next to take the stand. He testified that he has seen "tens of thousands" of patients in his thirty years of practice.

He testified that he treated many people who suffered drug and alcohol addictions. He also testified about treating both victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence.

There were objections to Spiegel testifying as an expert on intimate partner violence (IPV).

In his professional opinion, he said that Depp was someone who not only displayed characteristics of a substance abuse disorder but also displayed characteristics of exhibiting intimate partner violence.

Spiegel testified that Depp was a poly-substance abuser and theorized that it affected him cognitively. He said that Depp needing to have his lines fed to him through an earpiece was evidence of this. He testified that Depp admitted to doing a movie "entirely wasted."

Spiegel said that Depp's "erratic" behavior was "disturbing" and said that Depp said, "something along the lines of Dr. Kipper is an effin charlatan." He said that Depp used "vulgar language" to describe the medical professionals that were treating him.

He said that the "continual ranting" of Depp was "very uncomfortable for me to read." He testified that Depp had a history of self-injury and said that Depp wrote that he cut the tip of his finger off after an argument with Amber Heard.

He continued to testify about the symptoms of intimate partner violence, including jealous and controlling behavior, such as trying to control someone's career.

In a testy cross-examination, Spiegel admitted that Depp's psychiatric evaluation was potentially unreliable because it was possible that Depp was high or drunk at the time the test was administered.