Johnny Depp's Expert Witness Says Amber Heard's Expert Witness Violated Ethical Principles

Actor Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard continue to make headlines as the trial approaches closing arguments on Friday.

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, Depp was supposed to be called to the stand by Heard's legal team. However, they later changed their minds and Depp will not testify. However, Depp's team is expected to call Kate Moss to the stand on Wednesday.

At the start of the day, Depp's legal team moved to reject Heard's counterclaim. However, their motion was denied. The President of DC Films then testified that Heard's role was never reduced in the "Aquaman" sequel. The Umbrella Guy Twitter account was also featured prominently in the Tuesday trial.

Dr. Richard Shaw, a forensic psychologist, was the next on the stand. Dr. Shaw has been called by Depp's legal team to analyze the testimony given by previous medical experts, mainly Dr. Spiegel and Dr. Kipper.

Dr. Shaw felt that Dr. Spiegel violated the ethical principles of the Goldwater Rule and thus found his testimony "unreliable." The Goldwater Rule is a statement of ethics that was issued by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 which asks psychiatrists to refrain from speculating on the mental state of public figures. The rule prevents psychiatrists from diagnosing something that they have not evaluated themselves.

Although Dr. Spiegel felt that Johnny Depp showed narcissistic personality traits, Dr. Shaw told the jury that a licensed professional would need to perform "careful diagnostic tests" to determine a diagnosis. Dr. Shaw said that Dr. Spiegel did not have this information. Instead, Dr. Spiegel admitted on the stand that he did not personally interview Depp and had instead relied on video depositions of Depp to make his assessments.

In one instance, Dr. Shaw noted that Johnny Depp had recently flown in from London and might have been exhausted from the flight, which would have impacted his response time.

The next witness that was called to testify was Jennifer Howell. Howell is a former friend and boss of Whitney Henriquez, the sister of Amber Heard. Howell testified by video deposition on February 26, 2021.

Howell said that she met Amber Heard at the after party of the premiere of the Pineapple Express, and that she had been invited as a friend of actor James Franco. She testified that she never saw Depp do any drugs or seem intoxicated at any time. Howell also testified that Heard never told her that she was being abused by Depp.

Shortly after, Candie Davidson-Goldbronn, a representative for Children's Hospital Los Angeles, testified via video deposition on March 30, 2021. She gave an extremely brief testimony about donations before Judge Penney Azcarate dismissed the jury much earlier than usual. More live witnesses are expected on the stand tomorrow, including model Kate Moss, who once dated Depp.