Amber Heard to appeal Johnny Depp-verdict, her lawyer says jury was swayed by social media

Johnny Depp and his ex Amber Heard were recently in the midst of a legal battle, and the verdict announced by the jury declared that Johnny Depp won the defamation trial. Amber Heard's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft appeared on Today, after the verdict was announced and asserted that her client will 'absolutely' appeal the decision taken by the jury, as per Variety. She stated that 'there is no way' the jury was not influenced by the social media criticism of Heard and mentioned that Heard has 'excellent grounds' to appeal the decision that was announced in favour of Depp in the defamation trial.

Amber Heard likely to appeal verdict

Bredehoft mentioned that there were a number of things that she was not allowed to speak about during the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial. One of the things she was not allowed to bring up was the libel case that Johnny Depp lost in the UK after he sued The Sun for referring to him as a 'wife beater'.

Apart from this, explaining why Heard would appeal the verdict that favoured Depp, she mentioned that she believed that the social media criticism and negativity towards Heard impacted the jury's decision.

During the course of the trial, several social media campaigns of netizens backing Depp and making memes and mocking Heard surfaced online and took over the internet. Elaine Bredehoft told Today that social media 'absolutely' played a role in the verdict. She mentioned that although the jury was not meant to look at social media, 'how could you not?' She said:

"They went home every night. They have families. Their families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judicial conference. There is no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it. It was horrible. It was really, really lopsided."

The attorney also mentioned that she was against the trial being live-streamed and filmed and also went on record to state that she did not wish for there to be cameras in the courtroom. She mentioned that having cameras during the trial made it a 'zoo' as she expressed her thoughts on the matter. 

"I was against cameras in the courtroom and I went on record with that and argued against it because of the sensitive nature of this. It made it a zoo," she added.

Amber Heard's statement

Amber Heard took to her social media account moments after the verdict was announced and expressed how 'heartbroken' she was. She called it a 'setback' for women everywhere as she wrote, "The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I'm heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband."

Read the statement here:

Image: Twitter/@ayaashedid