Law&Crime Sidebar - Depp v. Heard Day 14 Recap

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Jesse Weber breaks down the biggest moments in Day 14 of the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial. Depp's lawyer goes on the offensive against the forensic psychologist who testified that Heard exhibited symptoms of being an abuse victim. Amber Heard herself takes the stand! From her opening remarks to the incredibly disturbing allegations she described in detail.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

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. Why are you here? I am here because my ex-husband is suing me for an op-ed I wrote. And how do you feel about that? I struggle to have the words. I struggle to find the words to describe how painful this is. This is horrible for me to sit here for weeks and relive everything here, people that I knew, some well, some not. My ex-husband, with whom I shared a life, speak about our lives in the way that they have. This has been one of, this is the most painful and difficult thing I've ever gone through for sure.

That's actress Amber Heard, testifying about what it's been like to be the subject of the most watched televised trial in quite some time. Hey, everybody, welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime, where we recap the biggest moments in the day's biggest trials. I'm Jesse Weber. So we're talking the ongoing trial of Johnny Depp versus Amber Hurd out in Fairfax, Virginia and we just wrapped up day 14. Now a reminder here, Depp is suing his ex-wife for $50 million claiming defamation, namely that she falsely accused him of domestic violence in a

2018 Washington Post-Abbed piece and that that article ruined his life and career. And she's actually countersuing him for a hundred million dollars saying he defamed her when he orchestrated a public smear campaign against her saying that she made up her injuries and lied about him being an abuser. Now, today was a big day, but before we even get to Amber Hurd taking the stand, we have to talk about what happened in the morning. The day started with the continued testimony of Hurd's first witness in her case, Dr. Dawn Hughes. You might recall that this clinical and forensic psychologist who evaluated Hurd opined that Hurd had shown signs of being a victim of domestic or intimate partner violence. She testified that all of these behaviors of Herd that

Depp had highlighted in his case over the past few. weeks, namely, heard physically lashing out at Depp or her yelling at him or her refusing to leave or her not cooperating with police during a domestic violence incident. These are all symptoms of her being a victim, not an abuser. And Dr. Hughes would explain how the alleged acts of Depp could constitute physical, psychological, verbal, or mental abuse. However, today was about her being cross-examined by Depp's team. And Depp's attorney took issue that during Hugh's testimony, she kept referring to the perpetrator of violence as a male and the victim as a female and that she rarely, if ever, testified on behalf of a male victim, all trying to show a bias as a paid witness for her.

And they continued with trying to pick apart her conclusions. You have not formed an opinion as to whether Mr. Depp committed intimate partner violence against Ms. Heard. Correct? Correct. I form the opinion that Ms. Hurd's report of the intimate partner violence is consistent with what we know in the literature about intimate partner violence. And you have no independent knowledge of the facts underlying the alleged abuse, correct? I have the knowledge of the plethora of documents that I've reviewed in this case.

No, I'm asking you're independent firsthand knowledge. You have none of that, right? You mean whether I was there? Yeah, you weren't there. Of course not. Okay. And you're not testifying to the veracity, the truthfulness of any of the allegations? Correct.

All of those statements that you reviewed, those were statements that started with Ms. Heard, correct? Not necessarily. Well, the medical records did, didn't they? Well, the medical records, if she's self-reporting what happened to her, sure. I mean, that's what we do when we go to a physician. We say, I have a headache. We're self-reporting our difficulties. Everything Ms. Heard reported directly to you

was after she was sued by Mr. Depp in this case, correct? Correct. And you didn't meet Ms. Heard until, what, September 2019? That was the first evaluation appointment, correct. You know what this is? I believe this is the knife that misheard gave to Mr. Depp as a gift. And you speak Spanish? Do you know what it says?

Yes, it says, hasta la muza until death. So a woman you suggest has characteristics of being afraid for her life, gives her intimate partner a large knife, which she has inscribed until death. That's your testimony? Well, there's context. Dr. Hughes was then questioned once again by Herd's counsel and had her confirm that she still believes Hurd has signs of being a victim and that she suffers from PTSD. But from there, after the lunch break, it was the moment we were all waiting for, Amber Hurd,

taking the stand. She is a defendant and counter plaintiff in this case, so clearly there is a lot riding on her testimony. She started off by talking about her background, growing up in Texas, how she became an actress, moved to Hollywood, and ultimately how she met Johnny Depp while auditioning for and working with him on the movie The Rum Diary together. And believe it or not, Depp and Herd actually agree on something. They both testified that there was this intimate on camera kiss during the movie. And it was a moment that they both described as very real and very different, and that changed everything. You don't, like, you don't use your tongue if you can't, if you can avoid it. There's certain things that you do to just maintain a certain line,

and it just felt like those lines were blurred. I mean, he grabbed my face and pulled me into him and really kissed me. But we were filming a scene. Did he use his tongue? yes and during the press tour for the movie is when things between the two really heated up then we drank red wine and continued to talk

and the talking became us you know reconnect you know it was like reconnection was almost instant it was just chemistry it's hard to explain that

but we sat on the couch and we talked and you know it It felt like there was, it felt like there was an electricity to the room. And so I felt when I was alone with him anyway, and it was instant again. I was like, whoa. So on the couch, we talked, finished some wine, and then I got up and left.

And as I went to leave, he grabbed both sides of my face, similar to what he did in Puerto Rico. and we were filming that scene. And he kissed me, and I kissed him back. And what happened next with respect to any relationship with Mr. Depp? Well, then we fell in love. We went on this press tour, and we went, it was a beautiful and strange time. You know, we were flying from one, not together, but, you know, going from one city to the next, Europe. New York, Los Angeles, as I said, and we're just traveling around talking about this movie

that we did together, that we participated in together, and we were falling in love. I mean, it was just, you know, at the first dinner in London, he sat me next to me. He produced the film and was a part of controlling the film and was responsible for different things than I was as an actor having a small part in it. And we went on this press tour, and I think in London, he sat, had me sat next to him at this, at a dinner. And then we ended up spending the night together in my hotel room. But then the testimony took a grim turn. Stay with us here at Sidebar, as we'll continue right after these words from our friends at the Court Junkie Podcast.

Imagine spending 16 years in prison for a crime you didn't commit. Imagine being on the jury at a trial where you have to decide whether a father murdered a family or whether it was a cartel hit. This is Jillian from Court Junkie, a podcast that examines criminal cases and trials. Each week, I give you the facts of a new case and let you decide if you agree with the outcome. Make sure to subscribe to Court Junkie on Apple, Spotify, or any of your favorite podcast apps. Now, I heard testified that after a whirlwind romance with Johnny Depp that actually had to be kept in secret because Depp was still in another relationship and was involved with someone else, she says things turned sour. And it was mostly due to what she said were issues of jealousy, control, anger,

that was all fueled by Depp's substance abuse. And that other thing was awful, awful thing that would come out and take over. And it was, you couldn't see the Johnny I loved underneath it it was this other thing and no one told him no one was honest with him no one you know he passed out in his own vomit he'd lose control of his body his you know he'd lose control and everyone would clean up after him I cleaned up after him I mean this man lost control of his bowels and I cleaned up after him his security cleaned up after him changed his pain in front of me, he would pass out in his own sick, you know, and then he'd walk around saying

he didn't have a problem until he did, until he couldn't support it anymore and he'd get clean and he'd get sober and then he was this thing again, this thing that made me feel so loved that made me feel like. Hurd would also recall for the jury the first time she says, Depp hitter. I was sitting on the couch and we were talking. We were having a like a normal conversation, you know, just there was no fighting, no argument, nothing. And he was drinking and I didn't realize at the time, but I think he was using cocaine because it was like there was a jar, a jar of cocaine out on the table. I realize that sounds weird, but it's like an actual.

vintage jar of it. But I didn't see him use at the time, so I didn't really factor that in. I just, you know, he's drinking and we're talking and there's music playing and he's smoking cigarettes and we're sitting next to each other on the couch. And I ask him about the tattoo he has on his arm. And to me, it just looked like black marks. Like I didn't know, I didn't know what it said. It just looked like muddled, faded tattoos. It was hard to read. And I said, what does it say? And he said it says, why no?

It says, why no? And I didn't see that. I thought he was joking because it didn't look like it said that at all. And I laughed. It was that simple. I just laughed because I thought he was joking. And slapped me across the face. And I laughed.

I laugh because I didn't know what else to do, I thought, this must be a joke. I was just sitting there on this, on this carpet, looking at the dirty carpet, wondering how I wound up on this carpet and why I was never, why I never noticed that the carpet was so filthy before and I just didn't know what else to do. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to react. I just sat there thinking, how much time do I have to? I figure out what I need to do because, God, did he just hit me?

No, I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want this to be the reality. I didn't want to have the man I was in love with. I know you don't come back from that. You know, not dumb. I know you can't hit a woman. You can't hit a man. You can't hit anyone.

You can't just. hit somebody because they I knew there was no I knew it was wrong and I knew that I had to leave him and that's what broke my heart because I didn't want to leave him I thought if I got up out of that room and I'd leave the best thing that ever happened to me

and I wish I could sit here and say I stood up and I walked out of that house and I drew a line and I stood up for myself I was just looking at the dirty carpet trying to will myself to get up, to walk out of the door because I knew I needed to. And I really slowly, I stood up and I remember looking at him in the eye and just looking at him, frankly, because I didn't know what else to do. And before I know it, he starts crying.

And, you know, like, I have never seen an adult man cry. I didn't even really see my dad cry at my grandma's funeral. You know, it's weird. And he's crying. Tears, I mean, just falling out of his eyes. He gets down on his knees, and he grabs my hands, and he's touching my hands, and he's saying to me, I'll never do that again. I'm so sorry, baby.

I put the f***er away. I thought I killed it and it's it's done. I thought I put the monster away and I've done it before. It's done. But on his knees. Now I should tell you that I was in the courtroom when Hurd took the stand and I was looking at the jury and they are intently taking notes and watching Amber Hurd. In my opinion, this is a highly attentive jury throughout this case, which is exactly what

you want. But you really can't get a read on what they're thinking. They seemed stone-faced throughout her. testimony. But from there, Hurd would describe more disturbing allegations of abuse like this. He's, like, grabbing my, my, my breasts. He's touching my thighs. He rips my underwear off. And then he proceeds to do a cavities. He said he was looking for his drugs, his cocaine, his coke. I was wondering how I, somebody who didn't do cocaine and was against it, that was in and of itself causing problems in our relationship.

How could I hide? Why would I hide his drugs from, like he was insinuating that I was, doing it or something? It made no sense. And he was telling me we're going to conduct a cavity search, shall we? Like, just shoved his fingers inside me.

I just just I just stood there staring at the stupid light. You know what, you know, I didn't know what to do. I just stood there. While he did that, he twisted his fingers around. I don't. Something to keep in mind as you listen to this testimony.

The jury only has to believe one instance of abuse in this case to make those statements in the Washington Post article true. If they believe that, Depp would lose. Heard will be back on the stand tomorrow, and we're going to cover it for you on Law and Crime. Thanks for listening to us here at Sidebar. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.