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.
Depp’s legal team only has one more witness to call to the stand before Heard’s team has a chance to call final witnesses. Closing arguments are still scheduled for Friday. Depp’s first and final witness on Thursday morning was a hand surgeon that testified that the injury that occurred to Depp’s finger could have occurred the way that Depp alleged.
Dr. Julian Ackert Is First Witness For Amber Heard’s Rebuttal
Dr. Julian Ackert is a forensic data expert. He was the first witness that Heard’s legal team called to the stand on the final day of their rebuttal. He was there to discuss the metadata of Heard’s bruise photos that were discussed on Wednesday afternoon.
He said that metadata for photographs includes when the image was taken, what software was used for that image, etc. In his expert opinion, the photographs that Anber Heard presented containing her bruises were original photos, which he said were taken with her Apple phone.
Under cross-examination, Dr. Ackert admitted that the photos reviewed yesterday by Depp’s legal expert are originals. However, he would not speak to whether or not all of Heard’s photos were originals, as he did not study all of Heard’s photos.
He was shown two photos of Heard’s face that looked visually different but had the same metadata. Dr. Ackert said the metadata on the photos had to be reviewed. When questioned, he said that the photos that he received and studied were, in his professional opinion, original photos.
Dr. Hughes Takes The Stand To Offer Her Rebuttal On Amber Heard Mental Health Diagnosis
Yesterday, Dr. Shannon Curry said that Dr. Hughes used improper measures to diagnose Amber Heard with PTSD. On Thursday morning, Dr. Hughes offered her rebuttal. She said that there were three different tests that she used to impart a credible diagnosis.
When asked if Heard had scored excessively high on one scale, Dr. Hughes told the jury that the cut-off was a fifteen, but Heard had only scored a ten. She also testified that Heard’s “trauma-based symptoms” could also be the reason for her high test results.
Under cross-examination, Depp’s legal team pointed out that the instructions of the test asked Heard to answer questions as they occurred in the past year. However, Depp’s attorney pointed out that Dr. Hughes had instructed Heard to answer the questions throughout her relationship with Depp, not just in the past year.
She also argued that she didn’t “need” to fill out all of the boxes on the test because she had eighty pages of notes to accompany the tests. She insisted it was not necessary to include the information in the boxes if they are available somewhere else.
After her testimony, the court went on break and then Amber Heard took the stand for a final time.
