Thread by @natlawyerchic

Here’s why Amber Heard lost. According to the law and the facts. 🧵 Johnny Depp sued Amber heard for defamation of character. So he had to prove by “a preponderance of the evidence” that AH published a statement, that was false, that harmed his reputation, that was about him…

Because JD is a public figure, he had to prove that AH acted with “actual malice” in doing these things, which is a higher standard than what non public figures face. This means AH acted with a reckless disregard for the truth and didn’t just honestly believe her claims….

So coming into this, JD had a very difficult hurdle to overcome. VA has a case called Herbert v Lando that says that JD has to bring evidence of all the surrounding circumstances, including the history between the parties and prior statements by AH. That’s a heft burden…

A jury doesn’t get to just go off of how they feel about the parties in assessing the evidence. They have to follow the law that’s given in jury instructions. One of those instructions is about the credibility of witnesses who provide the support for the surrounding circumstances

Based on all of that, the evidence has to be overwhelmingly in favor of JD, for him to win. It was. Here’s why…

The jury has to consider all of these factors when assessing the credibility of witnesses. Credibility matters, because that’s what proves the actual malice. Most important in this case was number 6. Contradictions. When AH contradicted other evidence, JD got more evidence of AM

And also more evidence that the statements were false. And also more evidence that the statements were about him.

Here was the evidence that contradicted AH, by the incidents alleged. Incident 1. The PENTHOUSE INCIDENT: AH said JD assaulted her, in their PH, leaving behind destruction and injuries to her. Witness Alejandro Romero, a front desk manager, saw AH the next day and saw no injuries

Isaac Baruch testified that he saw AH within hours of the alleged assault, and saw no injuries to her. He wept on the stand about the injustice of her false allegations.

Three LAPD officers testified that they responded immediately after the alleged PH incident and saw NO signs of injury to AH and that they saw none of the alleged property damage. AH alleged that JD spilled wine in the hall and had pics of it, but on body cam, there was no wine.

Incident 2: the filing of the TRO. The next day AH appeared at a court house to request a restraining order against JD, with a bruise on her face. The bruise that was not seen by five witnesses or bodycam footage. AH testified that she had no idea the media would be there…

However, a former TMZ staff member testified that they were alerted that AH would be at the court, with a bruise on the left side of her face. AH herself testified in a deposition previously that TMZ had been alerted before gasping and covering her face.

Let me be clear here, AH contradicted her own self. That’s bad, real bad. It’s always evidence of deception. Anyway, the very next day, after appearing with the bruise, AH was photographed smiling with her friend Rocky, with no bruise on her face.

Incident 3: Hicksville. AH testified that JD flew off in a jealous rage after they all got high on drugs and a woman cuddled with her. AH claimed that JD grabbed the wrist of that woman and threatened to break them. He then trashed their trailer and committed SA against her.

AH acting coach testified that JD yelled at AH, but did not witness him grabbing anyone. Rocky Pennington (AH’s friend) testified that JD yelled, but not that JD grabbed the woman. The manager of the trailer park testified that the trailer wasn’t trashed. Only a light was broken.

These are, once again AH own witnesses contradicting her. They have no reason to cover for JD, but didn’t see what would have been a horrible assault. Because, it didn’t happen.

Incident 4: Australia. AH alleges that JD assaulted her with a bottle. JD alleges that AH threw a bottle at him and severed his finger. AH testified that JD’s finger was severed when he smashed a phone into the wall. There was no smashed phone in any of the pictures in evidence

AH didn’t receive any medical attention for her alleged injuries yet JD received extensive treatment for his. AH told her acting coach that JD severed his own finger with a liquor bottle. AH took pictures of writing on a mirror but not her own injuries.

Doctors testified that the mechanism of injury was consistent with JD’s allegation (AH threw a bottle at him). Multiple medical professionals were present at the scene to offer assistance to AH, she reported no SA

Incident?(lost count): Staircase Incident. AH testified that she hit JD, for the first time, after he assaulted her and tried to push her sister Whitney down the stairs. She said all she could think about was Kate Moss and the stairs. Implying that JD had pushed Kate Moss

WH said while she was standing at the top of the stairs with her back to JD, he came up the stairs and pushed her in the back. This contradicts AH’s allegation that JD was in front of WH and was going to push her DOWN the stairs. WH did not testify that JD hit AH before this push

Travis McGivern, JD security, testified that AH was on a jealous rage and that she hit JD at the top of the stairs without provocation and that JD never hit AH

Finally, probably most damming, Kate Moss, JD ex GF and super model, testified from the UK that JD never pushed her down the stairs. This is damming because it appears that AH just made this rumor up, to justify her “decking” JD

There are more contradictions, but I cannot write them all here. I have a life. With all of these contradictions. JD proved that AH’s implication that JD had abused her and committed SA against her, we’re not only false, but made with actual malice. So he won.

Before I finish let’s review. Under the law, JD proved that AH published statements because she wrote them in an op-Ed and made a tweet adopting the title which said that she suffered sexual violence.

JD proved that those statements were about him, because AH basically testified to that on the stand and the surrounding circumstances made it clear that she was talking about him at the time.

JD proved that the statements were false because of the contradictions between AH’s allegations and her own witnesses, his witnesses, her testimony and medical and other professionals showed that she wasn’t telling the truth.

JD proved that the statements were defamatory (hurt his reputation) because of the movie roles that he lost

JD proved that AH acted with actual malice b/c the repeated and heinous allegations were consistently undermined and disproven by other witnesses and extrinsic evidence. This is why JD won and this is why any take that is saying that JD winning hurts victims of abuse is absurd

AH lied on the stand, repeatedly. Demonstrably. Even at times, contradicting her own self. AH hurt victims of DV by making it possible that all people will be more skeptical of true victims. The jury really didn’t have a choice but to find in JD’s favor. The blame lies with her.

Correction: I said Herbert v Lando was a VA case. It’s a SCOTUS case. Which means it applies to the entire country and is clearly the law that applies to this case and all defamation law. VA cases cite Herbert v Lando.

I addressed @The_Law_Boy Each of his points. Check my profile. They’re based on lies. Misstatements of facts and law. He then restricted his account to me I think that speaks for itself