Editorial
The judge has responded to Amber Heard’s call for a mistrial in the Johnny Depp defamation case.
Judge Penney Azcarate reportedly declined to toss the verdict on July 13 in response to the actress’s post-trial motions made by her legal team.
According to documents shared by CourtTV legal correspondent Chanley Shá Painter, several reasons were cited for this decision.
Find out more about Amber Heard’s call for a mistrial in the clip below…
Referencing the alleged juror error regarding their birth date, Azcarate stated that the unidentified man ‘was vetted by the court on the record and met the statutory requirements for service’. It then stated that ‘the parties also questioned the jury panel for a full day and informed the court that the jury panel was acceptable’.
The judge reportedly went on to say that this issue should have been addressed sooner and there was no evidence to show the juror’s selection held any prejudice.
Before this decision was made, Heard’s legal team submitted a memorandum – which was filed on July 8 – and it alleged that Juror 15 wasn’t the correct person to have been summoned for jury duty.
It read: “As the court no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this. This was a high-profile case, where the fact and date of the jury trial were highly publicised prior to and after the issuance of the juror summonses.”
Claiming that Heard’s due process was ‘compromised,’ it continued: “Ms Heard has a right to rely on the basic protection… that the jurors in this trial would be individuals who were actually summoned for jury duty.”
Prior to the judge’s reponse, Johnny Depp’s own legal team stepped in with a reply.
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According to Deadline, his lawyers stated: “Following a six-week jury trial, a jury of Ms Heard’s peers rendered a verdict against her in virtually all respects.
“Though understandably displeased with the outcome of trial, Ms Heard has identified no legitimate basis to set aside in any respect the jury’s decision.
“The verdict was well supported by the overwhelming evidence, consistent with the law, and should not be set aside. Mr Depp respectfully submits that the Court should deny Ms Heard’s Post-Trial Motions, which verge into the frivolous.”
It added: “In a rare moment of candor, Ms Heard admits that she was aware of the purported discrepancy in Juror 15’s birth year from the very start of trial because ‘Juror 15 …was clearly born later than 1945′.
“Ms Heard, therefore, concedes she had more than enough time before the trial started, and during the six-week trial, when at least two alternates were available, to investigate and discover the alleged ‘new’ facts.
“Clearly, Ms Heard waived any right to allege ‘new’ facts she chose not to investigate for so long, much less to demand the extraordinary remedy of a mistrial.”
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