Johnny Depp has been granted the right to use testimony of two LAPD officers who claim Amber Heard had no visible injuries on the night she alleges she was the victim of domestic violence.
According to new legal documents, obtained by The Blast, the judge is Johnny Depp’s defamation case against Amber Heard granted his motion to use deposition testimony of the two officers who responded to the ex-couples home on the night of the incident.
Both officers testified under oath they did not see any injuries to Amber’s face when they first encountered the ‘Aquaman’ star on the night of May 21, 2016.
As we reported, on the night in question, Amber Heard claims Johnny Depp hurled a cell phone at her that struck her in the face. Amber filed pictures of the marks on her face, as a part of her restraining order against Depp.
But, an LAPD officer who was first on the scene, says she did not see any bruising or marks on Amber’s cheek while interviewing her about the alleged assault.
In a deposition, taken by Johnny’s attorney, LAPD officer Melissa Saenz answered questions about Amber’s injuries…
Q: Did you see any marks of any kind on her face at all?
A: No, I did not.
Q: Did you see any signs of swelling or injury to her face at all?
A: No, I did not.
Q: Okay, did you see any bruises or marks under either eye?
A: No, I did not.
Q: Did you see any bruising or marks on either of her cheeks?
A: No, I did not.”
The other officer who arrived at the ex-couples home, LAPD officer Tyler Hadden answered questioning about possible injuries to Amber saying, “But just from her passing, I could see her, and what I saw was just a red face. She was in tears crying and that’s all that I observed. Again, my partner spoke with her. And towards — before we left the location, we both spoke with her.· And neither time did I see any type of injury.”
According to the deposition, obtained by The Blast, Officer Hadden answered questions directly about the injuries to Heard’s face.
Q: Did you see — as she walked by you, did you see any swelling of any kind on her face?
A: No, I did not.
Q: Okay, Did you see any marks of any kind on her face?
A: No, I did not.
Q: Any indication of bruising on her face?
A: No.
Q: Any indication of any sign whatsoever of any injury to her face?
A: No.
Johnny Depp’s legal team filed a motion to use the depositions to prove it’s position that Amber Heard made up allegations of domestic violence. But, Heard’s legal team fired back saying the officers were not properly cross-examined during the depos and shown evidence of Amber’s injuries and other evidence.
In a letter to the court, obtained by The Blast, Johnny Depp’s attorney said, “The testimony of these officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, for which Ms. Heard’s counsel were present, and which Ms. Heard now seeks to suppress — couple with security camera videos from the Eastern Columbia Building where Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard were living contradict Ms. Heard’s claims that she had marks on her face on the night of, and in the days after, the alleged assault. The officers also testified that they made security sweeps of the penthouses and found no signs of the massive property damage she alleged took place that night.”
Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman tells The Blast, “It’s not complicated – either two domestic abuse-trained police officers are lying, or Amber Heard and her co-conspirators engaged in an abuse hoax. Ms. Heard and her friends testified that her face was smashed and the crime scene was carnage.”
He continued, “Yet both responding police officers, including a female officer who has answered more than 100 domestic abuse calls, testified that after conducting two face to face interviews with Heard and two security sweeps of the premises, both Heard’s face and the penthouse were unmarked. Which is the same thing 87 surveillance videos, over 30 separate sworn eyewitnesses, and two other responding police show.”
Amber’s attorney’s filed documents telling the court, there is tons of evidence of the attack, including photographs of the abuse.
Heard’s lawyers argued, “Ms. Heard’s divorce lawyer did not confront the officers with the contemporaneous evidence of Mr. Depp’s abusive and destructive acts, including photos of Ms. Heard’s face taken on or shortly after May 21 showing bruising and swelling and photos of the property damage that Mr. Depp caused on May 21. Fairness requires that Ms. Heard be given the opportunity to cross-examine (the officers) in this action and confront each with the extensive contemporaneous evidence of Mr. Depp’s abusive acts on the night of May 21, 2016.”
Amber Heard’s attorney, Robbie Kaplan tells us, “As we explain in our brief, Mr. Depp’s position makes no sense. He has already issued subpoenas seeking to depose these L.A. police officers in this case. Apparently changing course, he now seeks instead to use their prior depositions without giving Ms. Heard an opportunity to question them about the many photographs and other evidence produced in this case documenting Ms. Heard’s injuries and property damage caused by Mr. Depp during the night in question.”
She continued, “While we understand why Mr. Depp would prefer that the witnesses not be confronted with this evidence, that is not how the process works.”
The judge in the case granted Depp’s right to use the testimony from the officers, but said, “This is not to preclude either party from taking the deposition of the officers and that can be presented in whatever fashion is consistent with the rules.”
The defamation case is headed to trial in 2020.