Johnny Depp follows Amber Heard in filing appeal over defamation trial
Johnny Depp has filed a notice of appeal one day after his former partner Amber Heard filed her own against the outcome of a multimillion-dollar defamation case.
Documents filed on Friday in Fairfax county, in the US state of Virginia, read: “Plaintiff and counterclaim-defendant John C Depp II, by counsel, hereby appeals to the court of appeals of Virginia from all adverse rulings and from the final judgment order of this circuit court entered on June 24, 2022.”
On Thursday, Heard’s legal team submitted a notice that claimed errors made during the trial had prevented a “just and fair verdict” from being returned.
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Heard’s filings came shortly after Judge Penney Azcarate, who oversaw the six-week trial at Fairfax county district court, dismissed her legal team’s claims of improper juror service.
“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the first amendment,” a spokesperson for Heard said, after the filing’s submission.
“We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realise today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”
Depp sued his former partner over a 2018 article she wrote for the Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, which his lawyers said falsely accused him of being an abuser.