Justice for Johnny Depp at Long Last

Most people watching the trial weren’t sure how the verdict would go. Defamation is notoriously hard to prove. Most people who covered the trial early predicted Johnny Depp would lose. But there was a “deus ex machina” force at play towards the end of the trial. Several witnesses came forth to directly contradict Heard’s testimony. Kate Moss came forward to clear up the rumor that she was pushed by Depp down the stairs. TMZ showed up to say that it was Heard who leaked the video after she filed a restraining order, and worse, that TMZ had been dispatched to cover Heard filing a TRO after Depp had left on a European tour. That’s because he was going to file for divorce and she appeared to be leveraging a settlement.

But it was Heard herself who really damned her own case. Had she just stuck to the facts, the few times she could document actual bruises and tried to sell those stories as her being abused, and then perhaps added in something about him pressuring her into having sex she might have won the case. But she went so far in the opposite direction of that no reasonable person could be expected to believe the story she told on the stand.

For one thing, none of it made any sense when you listened to the recordings of her talking that night and every night after that where the only problem, according to her, in their relationship is that he runs away and locks himself in a bathroom or a bedroom to get away from her and avoid physical violence. She is the one who repeatedly admits to hitting him.

Here is a really great example of that. In this tape, he confronts her that she lied to one of Depp’s security team. Eventually she admits that she did hit him but she mocks him. Later, they talk about Australia never once mentioning the worst thing that has ever happened to her, as she tells it. You have to listen all the way through.

To make things even worse, here she is in her deposition in the UK during their first round with defamation rolling her eyes at the idea that Depp would mention her slugging him. She says he is dramatic about the smallest bit of violence starting around 8:33. Watch:

With those last minute witnesses coming forward, Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez was then able to cross-examine Heard and that is, I think, when she lost this case. It is a skillful, brilliant cross, of the kind you only see in thrilling courtroom dramas. You could not watch this cross-examination and not come away from it thinking Amber Heard was lying. After a while, with so many lies piling up there was no way to sift what was true from what wasn’t.

What we do know from the tapes, from Amber Heard herself, is that she hit Johnny often. There isn’t much evidence at all that showed he did any of the things she accused him of. She seems to want him to fight with her, physically or any other way. What isn’t true is that she was the victim of domestic violence. That wasn’t true. If she said we can a combative relationship that sometimes became physical that would have been one thing. But she didn’t. She described years and years of being hit, kicked, punched, raped.

Heard’s lawyers closing arguments were also slam-dunks. When Benjamin Chew tears up fighting to clear your name you know that they are involved personally, not just because they are being paid.

Why did she go that far, one might wonder. Well, it was the $50 million he was suing her for. But it wasn’t just that, I don’t think. Why she wrote the op-ed in the first place is that she had cast herself as a Me Too victim and to do that “sexual violence” had to be part of it. But also, she was joining a movement a lot of women wanted to be part of. It feels good to be listened to, believed and given lots of attention and sympathy. She wanted to come out of that relationship the good guy. To do that she had to make Depp the bad guy.

It is, to my mind, a sign of an abuser to want to do that. They want to destroy your life so that you have nothing left. She said she loved him and even long after the saga ended she said she missed him and wanted to be back in the relationship with him but he had long since fled the relationship.

She won’t ever admit the truth in this scenario. She might even appeal the verdict. If I were her, I would not appeal. I would just go on with my life and I would not talk about it again. I would not have this be my story. There are so many things she can be doing with her life as a bright, beautiful, young woman. Leave this behind. Let it be over.

Is this the end of #metoo? Well, it is if people insist on believing someone who is not telling the truth. That puts everyone’s credibility on the line. Suddenly “believe all women” will become “don’t believe any women.”  I hope that everyone can go on with their lives and remember that we all deserve due process. We all deserve a chance to clear our names. No one has the right to lie about you in public and unfairly tarnish your character. That isn’t freedom of speech.

The media is invested heavily in activism over objectivity and thus, there probably aren’t going to be many positive stories for Johnny Depp. This was never a story of “good” vs. “bad.” It was a story of fairness. What happened to him wasn’t fair. And now, a jury has agreed.

So people ask why there was a trial at all, why would Depp have sued Amber Heard for so much money and gone through this whole trial? To them, Heard is still being victimized by Depp. But he was fighting not just to clear his name but for the truth. Imagine someone you knew that well lying about you like that?

If I were Johnny Depp I’d give Amber $2 million and not ask for any money back. He doesn’t want her money. He just wants to work and not have his kids have to live their lives with those accusations hanging around their necks. So yes, justice for Johnny Depp in the best way justice can be rendered: with due process and presumption of innocence.

Here are Depp’s and Heard’s statements.

Amber Heard has not lost her right to speak freely and openly. She has lost her right to continue to abuse Depp. Now she really does have to leave him alone.