Thread by @nickwallis

It’s a glorious morning here at the Fairfax County Judicial Complex. District Court 5J will soon be in session for the second day of Amber Heard’s cross-examination in the #DeppvHeard defamation trial. Thread follows.

The spectators are in court. The two parties’ legal teams have just strolled past me into court and the jurors are down the corridor to my right being quite chatty (amongst themselves, obs)

Proceedings begin at 9am eastern time.

You can watch the E! News live feed of today’s proceedings here:

Or the Law and Crime live feed here:



The former uses single screen and cuts to evidence. The latter uses split screen showing the principals and the reactions.

Court is in session. Judge Penney Azcarate (pronounced Az-Ka-Rah-tay) is in conference with a gaggle of attorneys at the judge’s bench. Camille Vasquez was cross-examining Amber Heard yesterday and barring something unusual, will continue today. Amber Heard is not yet...

… in the witness box and the mics are not yet live.

I am with three reporters sitting outside court with the Deputy Sheriffs. I will live tweet as much as I can of today pending any other commitments. It’s a long slog. Court looks like it’ll be...

… sitting from 0900 to 1730 each day this week. I’ll go at it for as long as I can!

If you would like to support my work and receive a daily newsletter summing up each day in court, please go to reportingdeppvheard.net/newsletter and make a one-time-only donation which will get you...

… on the list for the rest of the trial.

Judge still in conference with the attorneys.

Amber Heard is drinking from a clear plastic bottle containing a purplish-looking drink.

Judge is still in conference with attorneys.

AH takes the witness box. The jury files in, and we’re off....

Camille Vasquez continues her cross-examination.

AH confirms her relationship started in Oct 2011. First year of their relationship was “best of times” and “magic”. “He was hitting me in 2012”

She agrees he was smashing things around her and that he was in and out of sobriety.

AH “I gave him a knife I think for a birthday present early in our relationship I think in around 2012, but I’m not certain.”

CV “We’ve seen a picture of that knife, but I think we should bring out the real thing.”

[Ooh, the theatre..]

It is a big knife. It is being shown to the jury by Master Deputy Sheriff Haloosa [?]

AH: “I wasn’t worried he was going to stab me with it when I gave it to him, that’s for certain.”

[Please note everything I say is a summary or paraphrase of what is happening in court. It is only a direct quote if it is in “direct quotes” (as above)]

We move to the Australia incident. When Johnny Depp (JD) allegedly smashed a wall-mounted vintage found to bits, severing his finger in the process - or at least that is AH’s “best guess”.

There are no photos of the vintage phone and the butler, Ben King, has testified there...

… was no phone.

CV is pointing out that the sexual assault happened after he had lost the tip of his finger.

AH says she can’t remember the exact sequence of events and has never claimed to do so.

CV takes her to her testimony from this trial.

AH alleges it started after JD took 8 to 10 MDMA pills. Then she says he smashes a phone. Then she says whilst he is smashing the phone he is screaming “I fucking hate you."

Then AH stated “at some point he is on top of me… no phone but screaming the same thing”

CV so “he didn’t have the phone in his hand any more.”

AH “when he was assaulting me with the bottle, he had the bottle in his hand. When he was punching the wall with the phone...

… he had the phone in his hand. When he was punching the wall next to my head, he had me by the throat. He did a lot of things that night.”

CV says she is acknowledging by her sequence that he smashed the phone THEN assaulted her.

AH “I have never testified to a sequence.”

CV then you testified to saying you were bent over backwards on the bar.

[Elaine Bredehoft intervenes. They confer at the judge’s bench. Mics cut]

CV you then say you felt pressure on your pubic bone as if Mr Depp was punching you. Then you testified you had concern Mr Depp was using a broken bottle on you. The square bottle in this pic was the one AH says Depp used. Or one like it. It is a phone by Ben King.

[photo, sorry]

CV brings up JD’s rings and says AH said JD always wears them. She agrees after some prevarication.

CV“You testified that you bled as a result of this sexual assault. Correct?"
AH“That is correct.”
CV “And you testified that your forearms were cut”
AH “My forearms and my feet”

CV “And your feet were sliced up”
AH: “that’s correct”
CV; “And you testified you had a bruise across your jaw?”
AH: “That is correct”
CV: “And there is not a single medical record reflecting treatment for any of those injuries, is there Ms Heard?”
AH “I didn’t seek treatment."

Dr Kipper is brought up. He arrived at the house within a day with Debbie Lloyd and Malcolm Connolly who AH agrees she has known for years. She agrees she flew back to LA with Ben King. She says she doesn’t recall Travis M picking her up. She remembers seeing Nurse Erin.

AH agrees she took two pictures of the bathroom mirrors in Australia, but none of her injuries.

AH says she took the pics after JD injured his finger and after her sexual assault.

CV notes she is not in the pics. She asks if this is because she did not have any injuries on her. AH says it’s because she was taking a photo of the writing.

This is a photo Ben King took of the same mirror. One line says “She loves taking pictures of herself, so modern, so hot.”
AH says she has never noticed it before, but agrees JD wrote it.

AH says the Carly Simon reference in red was written by JD, not her.

We are played audio of JD saying he was trying to leave the fight in Australia and “you kept coming to get me"

CV says “you’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia Ms Heard.”
AH “I didn’t assault Johnny in Australia. I didn’t assault Johnny ever.”

CV “You weren’t scared of him at all, were you?”
AH “This is a man who tried to kill me. Of course it’s scary."

We go to 23 March 2015 where AH confronts JD about allegedly cheating on him. AH alleges JD attacked Debbie Lloyd, AH and her sister with his injured hand.

CV says Debbie Lloyd had testified JD did not throw a can at her.

AH says DL did not recall much. AH does not recall what DL did not recall - whether the can throwing didn’t happen or she didn’t recall it.

CV “You actually filed a complaint againts Ms Lloyd’s nursing licence right before she was… desposed in this case, didn’t you?”
AH “No. No I don’t believe I did.”
CV “Are you aware someone filed a complaint against Ms Lloyd’s nursing licence in connection with her care of...

… Mr Depp for failing to report abuse?”
AH “No. I have no idea. You’re the first person to let me know about that.”

CV asks about Travis McGivern’s testimony that it was AH who punched JD

AH “Its always been my own testimony that I hit Johnny.”
CV “and you were throwing things at Mr Depp”
AH “I hit him in defence of my sister… I never threw anything at him...

… I hit him when he attacked me and my sister. Specifically when he moved for her. that’s when I hit him.”

CV asks if it is her testimony that she threw nothing at JD and that TM is lying. AH confirms she threw nothing on that occasion.

Pushed on whether TM was mistaken about who threw what, AH responds

“Well he certainly wasn’t going to say it about his client"

[….]

We go to the Orient express photo. CV says this photo shows injuries to JD. AV disagrees. “He’s not injured in this picture… this is photoshopped"

This pic, sorry:

CV says this is the only photograph showing injuries. AH says her face was not injured on that trip.

We go to their “love journal” from the time.

there is more:

and more...

and more...

AH says they are mainly love notes. CV says and also opportunities for her to apologise for her bad behaviour. AH says “Another example of me trying to fix it. Because I was always trying to fix it… I tried everything. I tried apologising, I tried reading, I tried...

… therapists I tried everything trying to fix it.”
CV: “And yet you couldn’t change, like you told Dr Cowan, right?”
AH: “I couldn’t change the relationship."

We are being shown photos from a Greg Williams photoshoot on what AH says could be 31 Dec 2015 after. There was a fight on the island during this trip and AH claims JD sexually assaulted her and AH agrees she threw something at him.

CV is bringing up evidence about this incident from the UK trial - including the confidential schedule which we were not allowed to see at the time.

CV “in the confidential schedule to your 5th [UK] witness statement, paragraph 1 on p21, you describe Mr Depp sexually...

… assaulting you in the Bahamas of Dec 2015, right?”
AH: “That is correct.”
CV: “And that’s the first time you ever claimed that Mr Depp had sexually assaulted you in the Bahamas.”
AH: “That is incorrect”
CV: “You only submitted the confidential schedule in the UK...

… claiming Mr Depp had sexually assaulted you after Ms Roberts [the estate manager] had said that she saw you on the island ‘chasing… clawing at Mr Depp’, isn’t that correct?”
AH: “That is incorrect."

[we hear another audio tape, then the court takes a break]

Back in session. Jury are filing in.

CV asks about AH’s concern for JD’s drug use but says she wasn’t concern enough to stop using herself. AH says she didn’t use in front of Johnny apart from twice.

CV so you never changed your own behaviour to support his sobriety

AH says she changed her behaviour a lot

CV says she took him to Hicksville to do “laugh-y drugs”

AH agrees. CV says she also took drugs on the plane to Russia.

AH says she had mushrooms during her bridal party on Johnny's island.

We go to 1 Feb 2015 email. It is a draft schedule for the wedding.

AH says there was going to be weed on the island.

CV “You like to do drugs on special occasions, right Ms Heard?”
AH “I have, before”

AH agress she did drugs on her 30th birthday.

and she agrees she told Johnny she would not “bite his head off” if he smoked weed when he came to the apartment for her 30th Birthday Party.

Here’s the full proposed draft schedule for the wedding btw

[there is a pause in proceedings whilst the attorneys argue over what might be submitted as evidence.]

We see a text to this effect.

CV then says she then went to Coachella and had MDMA and mushrooms.

AH agrees.

We go to AH’s “interrogatory” about her 30th birthday and how it did not contain the information which came up in her evidence in this trial where she claimed that during the argument following JD’s late arrival AH was “grabbed” by the “pubic bone… pubic area” and pushed down.

CV characterises this as “new” sexual assault.

We go to the text of the interrogatory. Signed with the penalty of perjury. The interrogatory was AH’s first full attempt to list ALL the alleged abuse.

CV reads from the interrogatory. Asks where it mentions the sexual abuse.

AH “on p64”

CV “where?”

AH “p64… three paragraphs down… Johnny grabbed me once, did this taunting thing on the side of the bed in PH3 then he grabbed my vagina and held me there...

… asked me if I was ‘so tough’”

CV “You’re not describing what happened after your 30th birthday.”

AH: “I am. I just had not prescribed it to that date with the limited evidence I had at the time. Only in the course of looking at the evidence preparing for this case have I...

… put those two pieces together. But I’ve always said what happened.”

We move on to AH being upset about JD missing her 30th birthday. She agrees she was upset.

We see a very quick video of AH driving to Coachella set to the Rolling Stones song Miss You.

AH is driving. She agrees she or one of her party made the video. CV says it’s a message to JD.

AH: “No, that’s ridiculous."

We go back to AH taking mushrooms and MDMA at Coachella. And how she got sick.

Her testimony about not being alone with Starling Jenkins - JD’s driver - is questioned.

He says he picked her up from Coachella alone and took her back to the hotel. She insists it was the whole group. CV suggests given her ill state she might not remember. AH says she does. CV asks if she is saying SJ is lying. AH says he is mistaken.
We hear another recording...

… in which JD says that AH came round his side of the bed after her 30th birthday party and just started punching him. AH does not deny it. CV notes she does not deny it. She replies:

“I’m not having that conversation with Johnny. I’m not denying anything I’m not saying…

… anything. I’m not having that conversation with Johnny. I was trying to get out of that hotel room. That was a mediation attempt that was the recording you just heard. That was us meeting at the hotel.”

CV: “You were talking about your 30th birthday”

AH: “No we’re not...

…. Johnny is talking about that. I am not arguing with him about any of that.”

CV: “You don’t deny anything do you?”

AH: “I’m not talking to him about that."

We see a pic of AH at Coahcella. She agrees she has no visible injuries:

We are played a lengthy recording during which AH sounds like she is taunting JD about his career.

CV: “You told Mr Depp multiple times to suck your dick, didn’t you?”
AH: “Yes I did”
CV: “You told him to go run to his 15 other houses. Right”
AH: “That’s correct."

CV: “Because that’s what he would do you when you behaved like this, isn’t it?”
AH: “Eventually he would go and stay in one of the other houses.”
CV; “You call him a sellout, don’t you?”
AH: “I was expressing frustration about his criticism of my career and how many problems...

… that caused within the dynamic of our relationship, yes.”
CV: “You called him a sellout and a joke.”
AH: “I called him horrible ugly things as you can hear… we spoke to each other in a really horrible way.”
CV: “I’m pretty sure we just hear YOU speak to him in a really...

… horrible way.”
AH: “I disagree”

She does agree she called him a lot of ugly things.

CV brings up Aquaman.

“Mr Depp got you that role in Aquaman, didn’t he?”
AH: “No Ms Vasquez I got myself that role by auditioning."

[We move on.]

We hear the evidence where JD is trying to get out of the car and AH is pleading and begging him not to leave. JD’s team says that this is because he wanted to see his daughter. AH says he knew he was going into his studio to do drugs.

Two photos we saw yesterday are brought up and shown together.

These photos are agreed to be from 21 May 2016. CV says she has altered one of them to make it more red. AH says she has never retouched a photograph. Says it is different lighting.

We are going through the number of people after that night who testified to not seeing injuries on AH.

Including the LAPD.

CV takes her to her statement that AH wanted a TRO on 27 May because she wanted to change her locks.

CV points out she changed the locks on 22 May

AH: “I attempted to”

CV says James Franco came over on 22 May.

AH says she can’t remember when he came over

We are shown CCTV footage of AH leaving a lift at the ECB and then returning with a man. She moves towards him. He puts his head on her shoulder.

AH agrees its 22 May. And that she is taking JF to her apartment that it was at 10.52pm.

AH does not agree she was aware JD was out of town that night nor that he was or would be out of town for long when she got the TRO.

We hear another recording where JD is asking if he can go see his daughter and asking why that is so difficult.

CV says an hour later they are still arguing about it.

CV raises the TRO and how AH wanted privacy but also walked out to a sea of cameras. AH agrees she said this was overwhelming. The photo of AH taken in the courthouse by RP is shown again to the court.

As is this one.

CV “Where you having a photoshoot inside the courthouse whilst you were getting a DVRO?”

[Domestic Violence Restraining Order. The same thing has been called a TRO - Temporary Restraining Order]

AH: “I would no characterise it that way Ms Vasquez”

CV is asked if she used her bruise kit this time. AH says she had to be stopped by her friend from putting on make-up before they left the apartment.

We go to the WaPo editorial.

She agrees that when she is referring to DV, she is referring to her DVRO against JD in her article.

We are going through the article pretty thoroughly - CV is seeing how much AH agrees the references to DV are either directly or indirectly directly linked to JD. AH agrees some of the references to DV and society’s protection of abusers are at least indirectly connected to JD.

She says she did not write the online headline of the article which references “sexual violence” and says that is the first time anything public of that nature had been made in connection to her.

AH: “I was intending to keep that private when this was published. i had not publicly ever accused him of that.”

CV “I’m going to move to strike everything after the word yes."

AH’s attorney objects [off mic, again - she needs to learn how to use it] judge overrules the objection.

AH denies publishing the title, says she retweeted it.

CV points out in the tweet she says she published the op-ed

AH says she did not have any control over the title. She retweeted it.

CV says she published it.

AH admits she tweeted the link but didn’t notice the title

CV suggests this is not being very careful about what she published

AH says she didn’t notice

CV says she didn’t need to attach it to her post

AH says she couldn’t attach it with a paperclip

CV says she didn’t need to attach it at all

AH agrees, but says the point of including the link was so that people could read the article.

AH says she didn’t notice the title, didn’t think to ask WaPo to change it “nor did I think I needed to”

CV moves to the ambassadorship for the ACLU announced the same day.

CV wants to stop for lunch. judge refuses. Says we have to go at least till 1230.

[judge has a nice comft seat. CV is on her feet. Most of us are sitting on hard benches. This is an endurance test. Judge is a former marine]

We go to the waldman quotes published in the Mail Online and how AH says that her career stalled after the quotes.

CV says all the things she listed cannot be connect to the Waldman quotes.

AH maintains there is an “orchestrated smear campaign” against her online.

CV says we should take a look at it. There is a conference at the bench. The mics are cut.

CV says there was a lot of negative publicity around AH around the time of Waldman’s quotes

CV raises an article on 2 Feb 2020 - "#JusticeForJohnnyDeep trends after Amber Heard admits to hitting actor in audio clip"

and another 3 Feb 2020 “Amber Heard admits to ‘hitting’ Johnny Depp in recording”

AH: “That’s when his lawyer leaked a tape."

17 March 2020 “Amber Heard slams door into Johnny Depp’s head, reveals new audio.”

AH: “These are more of the PR plants"

31 March 2020: “Amber Heard to be sacked from Jason Momoa’s Aquaman after Johnny Depp’s controversy, reports.”

AH agrees she can read the headline.

“Johnny Depp says ex-wife Amber Heard sliced his finger off and ‘it erupted like Vesuvius.’”

AH “I’ve never seen that article”

29 May 2020: “When Amber Heard confessed to smahsing a door into Johnny Depp’s head, clocking him in the jaw.”

AH agrees she sees it.

15 July 2020 “Amber Heard sold my sexual assault story, ex-aide tells libel trial”

AH: "This was Adam Waldman as well"

CV “Doesn’t say Mr Waldman…”

AH: “Mr Waldman threw the newspaper at me afterwards.”

CV reading headline “Amber Heard admits hitting 'fucking baby’ Johnny Depp in court audio.”

there are more like this….

[we take a break for lunch]
[I may or may not be able to live tweet after lunch depending on other commitments. You can watch it all live here: ]
Also @Angenette5 from the Law and Crime Network is also putting out some tweets in between her live commitments

If you would like a full written round up of the day’s events for the rest of the trial, including today’s proceedings (post-conclusion, obvs), please consider signup here and making a small donation to reportingdeppvheard.net/newsletter

@threadreaderapp unroll pls