Amber Heard's Attorneys Say Johnny Depp Wasted Court Time 'For Nothing'

Actor Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard are about to hand their fate over to the jury later today.

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.

After a lengthy trial, Amber Heard's legal team finally presented their closing arguments on Friday morning.

On Friday morning, Amber Heard's legal team began their closing argument with Ben Rottenborn saying that Depp's legal team was setting a dangerous precedent for abuse survivors.

"If you don't take pictures the abuse didn't happen. If you did, they're fake," Rottenborn told the jury.

He told the jury to ask themselves if the First Amendment defends Heard's right to write the op-ed where she declared herself a survivor of domestic violence. Rottenborn reminded the jury that statements cannot be defamatory if they are true. Rottenborn said that only one of Heard's allegations needs to be true for it to be credible.

Rottenborn read to the jury several quotes from Depp himself, referring to his inner "monster" before he cut to the clip of Depp slamming cabinets and throwing furniture.

During closing arguments, Rottenborn countered a statement made by Depp's attorney, Camille Vasquez, in her closing argument. Vasquez had claimed that Heard had never reached out to anyone about the abuse; however, Amber Heard had sent a photo of a bruise she claimed she sustained from Depp to her mother in the spring of 2013.

Rottenborn's argument was interrupted by several loud Amber Alert notifications on people's phones. Although he tried to speak over the notifications, it made it difficult to hear what he was saying.

Rottenborn continued to walk through a timeline of their relationship, revisiting each encounter that Amber Heard had alleged. Rottenborn showed the jury photos of Heard's bruised face and said that, if it was really a hoax, then Heard would have made her injuries more severe.

Rottenborn said that Heard would have to be "the dumbest person on the planet" to fake a hoax the day before she appeared on James Corden's show.

Rottenborn concluded by saying that the facts are "overwhelming" in Heard's favor before switching gears and saying that there had to be proof that Heard was malicious in writing the op-ed for it to rise to the level of defamation. He also pointed out that Amber Heard asked a lawyer to review the document before release.

In regards to "Pirates 6," Rottenborn pointed out that there was no contract in place and that the movie had never been officially greenlit by the studio.

Rottenborn concluded his closing argument by asking the jury to stand up for the Freedom of Speech.

Elaine Bredehoft thanked the jury for their attention and told her that she would make her argument "very fast."

She said that everything Depp's attorney said have nothing to do with the case because it was already handled in the U.K. libel trial against The Sun in 2020.

"You can't give him his name back," Bredehoft told the jury.

She said seven weeks of the jury's time and the court's time was spent "for nothing ... to go after Amber."

Bredehoft said that Depp had never accepted responsibility for anything he's done "in his life." She asked the jury to hold him "legally responsible" for his actions.

Bredehoft pointed out that Depp doesn't remember what happened in Australia but pointed to the pictures of damage to the house in Australia while briefly recalling Amber Heard's allegations of abuse.

"You know he knows what he's done," she said.