Mildren, 41, a translator, stands in court in Fairfax, Virginia, and finds the suspense unbearable: the jury was due to render its verdict at 3 p.m., now it needs to be given time. He forgot to fill in the damages. A few minutes later, the sentence falls, and Mildren screams and jumps for joy, belatedly because her phone’s Internet connection is slower than that of her neighbors. 12:45 p.m. deliberation. For Mildren, the case was not complicated, however: “It was completely obvious, that it was she who provoked it, each time. I came with no preconceived idea, But to see the trial, to listen to her, to see how she refused to accept the facts… For me, that says everything about someone. She accepted no responsibility for what happened, as if nothing was ever her fault. Johnny Depp has won his case against Amber Heard.
The jury of five men and two women met on Friday around 3 p.m. and resumed on Tuesday. What should he decide? A story of money. Because Johnny Depp attacked Amber Heard for defamation, because of an editorial published in the washington post in 2018, where she presented herself as “a public figure representing domestic violence”. Depp maintained that this text had damaged his reputation, had deprived him of certain roles, and therefore, had cost him money. He was asking for $50 million in damages. Amber Heard had counter-attacked, for “slanderous campaign”, by asking her for 100 million dollars. The role of the jury was to assess whether Johnny Depp’s team had proven defamation, then decide the amount of damages. It was a question of determining how much these extremely wealthy actors were going to touch, or pay. At the end of 12:45 p.m. of deliberations, the verdict fell: yes, estimated the jury, Johnny Depp was indeed the victim of defamation. Amber Heard will have to pay him $15 million. And… yes, she was defamed too, but less so. He will have to pay her $2 million.
Safwa was the first in court, “apart from the media”. When she heard the jury had reached a verdict, she ran for it. She was firmly in favor of “Johnny”. Like everyone else, in the small crowd that formed in the afternoon, she only calls the two protagonists by their first names. “There is nothing in what was said that supports Amber’s accusations,” she asserts. Of course, there are elements that show violence on Johnny’s part too, abuse… but she’s the one who starts it, she annoys him and it’s human nature, he responds. A few Johnny Depp fans, invisible yesterday since the star is on tour in Europe, have returned. And the comments might suggest that the MeToo wave never happened.
Career in slow motion
Kathy Dibble, retired, former welder, is overjoyed. She was “completely obsessed” with this trial and couldn’t come at first because she had Covid. “From the start, I saw how she was lying. Just his shifty gaze, the expressions on his face, his whole attitude in fact. While he spoke in a soft voice, it was obvious that it was her who was violent. Amber Heard is just a liar. Next door, 21-year-old Dan Jawish, of Fairfax, is also jubilant: “There have never been any charges against him in his entire career, he had to shoot in the 6e episode of Pirates of the Caribbeanfilms with Disney, everything has been canceled and it is because of this editorial in the washington post, it was from there that his career began to slow down. Sure, he heard that Johnny Depp had lost his case in England, “but the laws are different and they don’t look at the same evidence, in European courts.” “However, he admits that Depp is probably guilty too:” In particular, what Johnny said to Amber, it is disgusting, how you can say such things to a woman. “He is also aware that his career was slowed down by his late arrival on the set. “Or because he was drunk or he had taken drugs the day before, yes, all this is inexcusable, it is sure that his career also suffered from his own decisions. But he also thinks the MeToo movement “has gotten a little out of control. »
Jessie, 20, is studying political science and came out of curiosity: “It’s very interesting, it’s completely the opposite of what we’ve seen for 5 years. It’s surprising to see a verdict that favors a man. The MeToo movement should include men, by the way. He won in the court of public opinion anyway. I have to admit that all the news that came out, if you didn’t look at the trial itself, was very biased in favor of Johnny Depp. »
Only Syd Porter, whom we interviewed yesterday, stands alone with her banner of support for Amber Heard. “The MeToo movement has crumbled in recent years, and we have all these problems of women’s rights, about abortion… So I’m not surprised, but it’s disappointing,” she admits. She fears that this verdict will deter women from speaking out: “It shows that we can have as much evidence as we want, it doesn’t change anything, we won’t believe you. I also think the jury failed to consider the difference in power between the two. A Hollywood woman, even if she has a little more power than others, compared to Depp, it’s tiny. “She is worried about the case of Marilyn Manson, friend of Johnny Depp, accused of sexual assault, who also attacks in defamation.
Camille Vazquez, the new idol
The topics she discusses are real. Those of a justice based on lawyers deploying overpriced strategies, hiring the services of the best experts. It is ultimately Meredith, 20, who analyzes this trial the most finely. She is a law student and she is the only one who does not call the two celebrities by their first names. “There is so much evidence on both sides! I just think that the lawyers, on Mr. Depp’s side, were better able to convince the jury. If she discovered an idol in this trial, it is Camille Vazquez, Johnny Depp’s lawyer. ” She is incredible ! Honestly, I would like to become like her, as a lawyer. I will send her a CV for an internship, but I will certainly not be the only one. The moment that impressed her the most was Amber Heard’s cross-examination, where she was precise and ruthless: “She pushed her until she recognized the facts and that is a very good technique. »
Following the announcement, Camille Vasquez and Benjamin Chew released a statement. But, in addition to the “Johnny President!” », it is indeed to the 38-year-old lawyer of Colombian origin, that the « Camille, we love you! “She is so loved, a very good career in reality TV could be offered to her”, estimated yesterday Hilde von Den Bulck, communication specialist at Drexel University. Camille Vasquez is already a star in Colombia. It could well be her, the big winner of this heartbreaking trial.
