Law&Crime Sidebar - BREAKING: Judge Denies ALL of Amber Heard's Motions to Throw Out Verdict

Episode Date: July 13, 2022

Judge Penney Azcarate issues an order denying Amber Heard's motions to set aside the verdict or grant a new trial in the defamation case with Johnny Depp. Heard had argued the $10.35 million judgement was excessive and not supported by the evidence. Judge Azcarate also denied Heard's request for a new trial based on her "Juror 15" claims. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy and attorney Mitra Ahouraian detail what Judge Azcarate said in her order.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 10% OFF your first month of online therapy with BetterHelp at https://www.betterhelp.com/sidebar/.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsObjectionsSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Motion denied. Judge Penny Askirati issuing an order denying all of Amber Hurd's post-trial motions. Hurd had wanted the judge to set aside the verdict because she said it didn't comport with either the law or the evidence in the case. I'm Janette Levy, and welcome to this edition of Law and Crimes Sidebar Podcast. This order was very interesting. It just came out from Judge Penny Askirati on Wednesday afternoon.

And she said that defendant Amber Laura Hurd's post-trial motions 1 through 6 are denied for the reasons stated on the record. And these motions really had to do with Amber Hurd saying, look, this verdict wasn't fair because of this reason or that reason, and the damages awarded by the jury were out of line, et cetera. But Judge Ascarati just issued one sentence. Defendant, Amber, Laura Hurd's post-trial motions one through six are denied for the reasons stated on the record. And that has to do with that June 24th hearing in which the judgment in the case was ordered and Judge Ascarati was very clear that she was signing the judgment. It would be final that day and that was it. I was actually there for that hearing and there weren't any cameras allowed.

So that's how the judge, that's what the judge said about it and that's how she acted. Judge Ascarati also denied issues having to deal with Amber Hurd's claim of juror 15 serving on the jury incorrectly or improperly. Amber Hurd's team had filed a motion saying that a man who was born in 1945, actually was summoned for jury duty. But another man, likely his son, born in 1970, who had the same name and the same address, was actually the person who showed up for jury duty. And guess what? Judge Ask Karate is saying, we pulled the jury summons. No birth date was listed on it. So this man went through the proper voir dire vetting process. And so there's no error here. And also, Judge Ascarati says that Amber Hurd didn't show any prejudice as a result of this issue.

So joining me to break this down is Mitra Ahorian. She's an entertainment lawyer, but she's also a litigator. Mitra, welcome back to Sidebar. Thank you, Internut. Your reaction to Judge Ask Karati denying basically very quickly all of Amber Hurd's motions. Not surprised at all. With respect to the first several motions that were heard on the record, those were really trying to relitigate everything that we already heard in this six-week trial from things like actual malice was actual malice proved or the amount of damages. All of this stuff was addressed in these six weeks. So that attempt to relitigate did not go well with the judge. The argument about this jury 15, juror number 15 was so tenuous if it even was an argument at all. And it was just a really short part of the motions, the post-trial

motions that they brought. And even in that in that motion, the lawyers sort of admitted that, well, we know the onus was on us, but there was still an issue here. And so that's really what it came down to was not only did they, you know, have these six weeks to figure this out. They had the entire period of voir dire to ask all the questions that they wanted to ask. The juror actually filled out the questionnaire properly stating the proper birth date. So they had access to that. And you have to preserve the objections that you're going to have during the trial. How did they not know until after the verdict was called that this was going to be an issue. But really, it really, really just comes down to the fact that the statute says that one, any false information about a juror cannot be

grounds for a mistrial and that the onus is really on the parties to make sure that everything is looked at and it's really their job. This episode of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast is sponsored by Better Help. You know, we've all had a time in our lives where we went through something really painful and it might have helped to talk with a neutral third party about it. I know that really helped me when I lost my dad. You have to take care of yourself both physically and emotionally, of course, and there is some help for that online. Better help online therapy will look at what you need and your emotional needs and match you with a therapist in less than 48 hours. And even if you don't think you need therapy, I know I've often talked to friends and family who think they didn't

need it and they are the people who often benefited the most. Getting therapy, each week with BetterHelp is as easy as a few clicks on your laptop or phone. And there's a special offer for our listeners. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash sidebar. That is 10% off your first month of online therapy at betterhelp.com slash sidebar. Well, another interesting thing that, you know, I mentioned, but Judge Ask Karate noted this. She's saying the summons went to the house where apparently both of these men lived, father and son, born in 1945, the other in 1970, there was no birth date on the summons. So to me, I'm thinking to

myself, well, why even bring it up? And then they had the footnote to boot that said, look, we know this isn't grounds for a new trial or for the verdict to be set aside. I love that that was put in a footnote. It was fantastic. Something you do when you're like, you know, we don't have a case. But yeah, but I've had a summons come to me before. And I don't remember my birthday being on it. and I'm sort of glad now that it wasn't on it. But no, but they don't, as far as I know, at least in California, they don't come with birth dates on them. So they have your name and your address and you fill it out.

So I can't imagine he would have filled it out incorrectly. We have the questionnaire that the court pulled that was correct. And there really wasn't any mistakes made here. And then the point you made in Jeanette, even if there was a mistake, they have to go beyond that and show that there was a violation of her due process rights. and that this actually affected the outcome in some way, which they didn't even try to bother arguing that it did. They just said this mistake happened and therefore there should be a

reexamination of the case. I'm looking at this right now. Obviously, this just came in. It says Judge Escarati wrote this. A party cannot wait until receiving an adverse verdict to object for the first time on an issue known since the beginning of the trial, the issue has been waived. So she is saying, look, if you had a problem with this, you should have brought it up earlier, not kept it in your back pocket. That's basically what she's implying because she's saying basically that they had the defendant and the plaintiffs had an obligation to make sure the information was request. This was on them. Totally. And the thing is, well, you didn't like the outcome. So you're bringing this issue up now. But would you have not brought it up if you liked the outcome? That's

really the suggestion there. At the end. And this reminds me of that June 24th hearing. Erlaine Breda Hoff, God bless her, kept asking for things and saying, I want to address this in post-trial motions. I want a hearing. Judge Escarati said, I don't need a hearing. We had a six-week trial, and I've had this case for 18 months. We are done. And she said the judgment is final today. And she kept reiterating that and talking about how they had to post that bond, suspension bond to appeal.

And that's what the judge was ordering. And she puts in bold type at the bottom of the order, Mitra, this order is final. Judge Ask Karati is done. Yep, she sure is. And yeah, and you were in that courtroom. We weren't there. We didn't see it, but I did see you report it. And she was done then and she's even more done now. So is this going to be the end of it is really the question. Right. And I'm thinking, you know, maybe they'll file some other motions. She, Elaine Bretahoff said she wanted to address this whole issue of the suspension bond in post trial motions. Maybe there will be more. But I just don't know. We'll have to wait and see. But I think the appellate court is the next stop. At Mitra O'Horian, thanks so much for making time for us and coming on to discuss this. My pleasure, always. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. Michael Dininger is one of our producers, as is Sam Goldberg. Bobby Zoki manages our YouTube, Kiera Bronson, manages our social media, and Alyssa Fisher is our booking producer.

You can find Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcasts. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we'll see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.