Featured Image Credit: Law&Crime Network
Topics: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard
Anish Vij
Johnny Depp is expected to be called to the stand today as Amber Heard's team plan to call him to testify in the defamation trial.
Depp, 58, is currently suing ex-wife Heard, 35, in a $50 million (£38.2 million) defamation lawsuit over abuse claims she made in a 2018 article in The Washington Post, despite not mentioning Depp by name in the op-ed.
Some have been sceptical of whether calling the Pirates of the Caribbean actor to the stand, as a witness, would be possible.
Katherine Lizardo, a plaintiff’s attorney from Texas and frequent analyst for the Law&Crime Network, said: "I want to say that a lot of people weren’t sure if that’s possible.
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"It’s actually possible because in Virginia, and actually in federal court, in a lot of states, a party can call an adverse witness to their case in chief.
"An adverse witness is basically your opposing party."
She added: "They’re trying to bring Johnny Depp in to establish some elements about her countersuit. That’s one reason why you bring in your adverse witness to testify for you.
"But there are alternatives that you can use for that. For example, you can use depositions of Johnny Depp to establish that element, or you can use other witnesses or other documents, admissible documents."
Last week, Heard suggested that she’s being portrayed as being dishonest because Depp is a ‘bigger star’ and has ‘more publicity reach’.
She said: "My interest is in my name – in clearing my name. At the time, I was being called a ‘liar’ and my motives were being questioned.
"I did see it as important to clear that up."
She added: "I wanted to make a statement to make sure there was not any doubt. That I couldn’t be labelled these things just because Johnny was the bigger star and had more publicity reach."
Heard also admitted that her 2018 article wasn't just directed at her ex-husband.
"I was talking about a bigger issue than just Johnny… when powerful men do something horrible or that they shouldn’t, how there is a system in place to protect them, to clean up after them,” she told the court.
"This was a reference to not just Johnny but what was happening as a culture when we were addressing a lot of MeToo issues.
"(It was) not just about him, but he is included in that yes… but I wrote this in the context of many men at the time, public figures in the public eye being accused as well.
"So it was a reference in general to a larger phenomenon, not just Johnny.”
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