Law&Crime Sidebar - Heard Says She Still Loves Depp, Jeff Hardy Arrested, David Guillod Charges Dropped

Episode Date: June 15, 2022

Law&Crimes's Angenette Levy has highlights from Day 3 of NBC’s interview with Amber Heard and how her statements to Savannah Guthrie differ from her trial testimony. And, is Amber out of Aquaman 2? WWE legend Jeff Hardy nabbed for DUI and it’s caught on camera. Plus, a Santa Barbara County judge drops sex charges against Hollywood producer David Guillod. But, Guillod’s legal troubles may not be over. GUESTS:Mitra Ahouraian, Entertainment Lawyer Roger P. Foley, Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Dina Doll, Attorney, Mediator, Trial consultantLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Sean BauerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsSpeaking 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. You testified you found it hard to believe that Mr. Depp would tell the world that he's a victim of domestic abuse, didn't you? I said I find it hard to believe that he would do that, knowing that he himself had beat me up for five years. But he has told the world that he's your victim of domestic abuse, hasn't he? Well, he started to say that only recently. He didn't make that claim up until very recently.

Now, even after all of that, Amber Heard admits on camera that she still loves Johnny Depp. And welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast. We start with part three of Savanaga 3's exclusive interview with Amber Heard. on NBC News, Guthrie questioned Amber Heard about why she decided to write that Washington Post op-ed in December of 2018, more than two years after she separated from Johnny Depp. Life had seemingly moved on, and you decide to write an op-ed. Why did you do that? Because op-ed wasn't about my relationship with Johnny. But it alluded to him. It was unmistakable. You know, what the op-ed was about was, you know, me loaning my voice to a bigger cultural conversation that we were having at the time.

Did you worry? Gosh, I'd love to be a person weighing in on these cultural issues, but that's going to stir this all up again. I obviously knew it was important for me not to make it about him or to do anything like defame him. I had lawyers, teams of lawyers, review all the things. drafts of this. When you wrote this op-ed, it was the height of Me Too. Legions of powerful men being canceled, losing their jobs. Did you want that to happen to Johnny Depp? Of course not. Of course not. It wasn't about him. But that's not what Amber Heard testified to during the trial or what testimony from the General Counsel for the ACLU Terence Doherty revealed. In fact, Doherty testified that the op-ed was pitched to news outlets using Johnny Depp's name. And listen to what

Amber Hurd said on cross-examination by Camille Vasquez. And this is why she said she wrote the op-ed. When you told this jury under oath that you had no idea that the paparazzi would be at the courthouse. On May 27th, 2016, you didn't expect a TMZ employee to show up to testify that TMZ had been alerted that you would be at the courthouse and knew exactly which side of your face to take a picture of. Did you? I know how many people will come out and say whatever for him. That's his power. That's why I wrote the op-ed. I was speaking to that phenomenon. How many people will come out in support of him and will fall to his power? He is a very powerful man and people love curing favor with powerful men. Curting favor and I know that firsthand. I've lived it.

For committing perjury. Excuse me. So there you have it. Amber Hurd admitted that she wrote the got bed about Johnny Depp, and she explained why. Savannah Guthrie also brought up Amber Heard's Instagram post from the first day of the trial, in which she wrote, quote, I have always maintained a love for Johnny. Is that still true? Yes. After everything. Absolutely.

Absolutely. I love him. I loved him with all my heart. And I tried the best I could to make a deeply broken relationship work. and I couldn't I have no bad feelings or ill will towards him at all

I I know that might be hard to understand it might be really easy to understand if you've just ever loved anyone it should be easy Amber Hurd admits that she still loves Johnny Depp and really from watching the trial unfold

watching every minute of it I don't find this revelation surprising at all. Joining me to talk about Amber Hurd's interview and Aquaman 2, the rumors circulating about Amber Hurd being cut from Aquaman 2 is entertainment attorney Mitra Ahorian. Mitra, welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for being with us. Your thoughts on the interview with NBC News.

Is this helping or hurting Amber Hurd? First, I got to say, I cannot believe that she came out with an interview so quickly. and I can't believe that she was not advised to lay low for a while. And then she goes on this interview and it's more of the same of what we saw on the stand. And I don't know how she thought people were going to react any differently to it. So too soon and more of the same and it is absolutely hurting her. The public still doesn't believe her. So I don't know how she thought this was going to be any different.

Mitra, the rumors started resurfacing on Tuesday afternoon that Amber Heard had been completely scrubbed, deleted from Aquaman 2, then her team came out and threw cold water on that, calling that insane. Your thoughts on the rumors resurfacing. Do you think just doing what you do, there's any truth to this? You know, it's interesting because the inconsistencies do not stop. Amber Hurd's team had the claim that, you know, she was, she was cut or significantly reduced, and that his statements, that Johnny Depp's lawyer's statements actually caused her to lose work, and in particular, Aquaman II was referenced multiple times. And then now we have her team saying, no, this is, you know, all the rumors about this are false and, you know, she's not been cut

and this has not impacted her, really is the message that they're saying. Meanwhile, we have her statements on the stand, which are contradictory. We have Walter Hamata, who's the head of DC films, his statements, which again, under oath, we're very lucky to have things stated under oath, but he's already stated that this, you know, this movie was never really focused on her anyway, and they were already pairing her down. So we know that they were pairing down her role, whether she was cut entirely or not. You know, maybe not. But definitely the film will not be centered around her. And Walter Hamada also said that there were major chemistry issues between Jason Momoa, the main character, The Man, and Amber Hurd, and that they

had to manufacture it. With regard to contracts in the entertainment industry, many of them will have morality clauses in them in which they say talent can be cut for any reason. In a contract for Amber Heard, would you expect such a clause? And would that mean that Warner Brothers wouldn't have to pay her? Well, yes. So the morality clause, if there is one in her contract, I think, would certainly kick in in a situation like this. She would absolutely be hurting the Warner Brothers brand by continuing to be aligned with it. So I think that that would be grounds, but even without the Morals Clause, there's three types of contracts in entertainment. So film contracts typically take three forms. The first is how most of them are, which is we, you know, we're going to film

this and we're going to pay you for the time that we filmed, but there is no guarantee that you're going to, that we're going to pay you going for. There's no guarantee that the footage is going to make it into the film, and we can basically cut you at any moment. That's the typical kind of contract. Actors with a little bit more clout can get what's called a pay or play, which is we're going to pay you regardless of whether we use you or not, regardless of whether you even show up, you know, we require to show up on set or not, regardless of whether we use the material that we shoot or not, we're still going to pay you. I don't know whether she had that. And then at the upper echelon, which is also very rare, are actors that can command pay and play, which means

that we're guaranteeing that we're going to pay you. And we're also guaranteeing that you're going to be in this movie and you're going to have this role and that you're going to end up being in the final cut. And certainly I can tell you that Amber Hurd would not have the pay and play. I don't think she would even have a pay or play. I think that absent a Morality's clause that they can still choose not to use her in any of it. And would that mean they don't have to pay her as well? If she did not have a pay or play, then they would not have to pay her. Do you see her remaining in the film, just knowing what you know at this point?

I think that, you know, perhaps they might leave some of the small, you know, her small role in there just to be consistent with what they've stated so far. But I wouldn't be surprised if her clips sort of ended up on the editing floor. or, you know, towards the end of the editing process because we know this film is not going to be released until 2023. So I think that there's still some time for them to make that final call. But again, it just sounds like this movie is not centered around her. Mitra Horian, entertainment lawyer.

Thanks so much for being on today. My pleasure. That's WWE Legend, Jeff Hardy, arrested. in Florida for DUI. That's driving under the influence, of course, and his blood alcohol content, according to the arrest report, was almost four times the legal limit in Florida. It's 0.08, and he was at 0.294 or 0.291 in change. So let's talk with Roger Foley.

He is a criminal defense attorney in Florida about this. Roger, tell us what happened here with this wrestler being arrested for DUI. Hi, Ann Jeanette. Great to see you. First thing that I found out when I read the probable cause affidavit was that Good Samaritans called a car that was weaving on the road, four different people called. Police came to the scene. They corroborated. They saw a Dodge Charger weaving in and out of traffic or not maintaining a single lane, and he was ultimately pulled over.

Once he got pulled over, he didn't initially listen to commands. So they went to the passenger side, which is something they always. do for safety. And at that time, Jeff Hardy was reaching into a bag. So at that point, officers probably got scared, may have pulled their firearms at that point. So Jeff Hardy gets out of the vehicle eventually, and he's on the ground. They're asking him if he speaks English. And the arrest proceeds from there. This is someone, Roger, who has a history of DUI arrest. So what do you see happening here? Well, the first thing is, anyone who's going through this, and I read a little bit about Jeff Hardy before I came on today, he seems like,

a real person, a guy who is sympathetic to what he's going through, and he's acknowledged that he's facing alcoholism. But the problem here is now that he's in Florida. It's a third DUI within 10 years. He's facing felony charges a maximum of five years in Florida State Prison. And because he's had, this is his third DUI, and his license was actually suspended or revoked from the DUI, he's looking at guaranteed jail probably prison time. Do you foresee any way? that he could enter into one of these deferred prosecution agreements, even though it is a felony charge? Is there a way where maybe he could enter treatment in lieu of conviction, or is it just simply too late for something like that? Absolutely not. No diversion available on a third

DUI. It's simply for first-time DUI users. I deal with a lot of cases on DUI throughout the state. He will not be entered into a diversion. He's going to have to hire an attorney. Remember, everything we read in the police report, Angelette, it's one-sided, right? No police. officer writes a report to say, ah, you know, Jeff Hardy's a nice guy. I saw him wrestling in the 90s and 2000. They're writing it to acquire a conviction. So he's going to have to acquire defense counsel, and they're going to have to look at the applicable motions to suppress in the case and fight the case. If they don't fight the case and he simply takes a plate, I guarantee he will be incarcerated. Well, we'll just wait and see how it unfolds. We'll see if he calls you

too, Roger. Who knows? You never know. Your phone might be ringing soon. So thank Well, there's a great, great, great, great DUI attorney named Katz in, in Orlando, who's part of the College of National College of DUI Defense. So he's in good hands if he's up there in Orlando, there are some really good DUI attorneys. All right. Well, Roger, thanks so much. Roger Foley, criminal defense attorney in Florida. Thanks for being on. Thanks so much.

Great to see you. You too. A judge in Santa Barbara County has dismissed sexual assault charges. against a Hollywood producer. His name is David Gioad. He has produced things for Netflix and other outlets. And joining us to talk about this is Dina Dahl, a California attorney. Dina, in a nutshell, tell us what happened in court in Santa Barbara County relating to

these sexual assault cases. David Gioad was facing. So essentially, prosecutors were trying to bring charges against him for six women. Two of the women's incidents happened in Los Angeles County, four of them in Santa Barbara County, but they tried to consolidate the case and bring them all six in Santa Barbara County. The judge in a preliminary hearing decided that the four women whose incidents occurred in Santa Barbara County felt that they didn't rise to the level for them to be able to continue the charge.

He dismissed those charges, which is surprising because the bar is so low on a preliminary hearing. The other two women, he found, were more credible, but they couldn't go forward because they're wasn't jurisdiction in Santa Barbara County. So all six of the charges have been dismissed. Now it's up to L.A. County, whether or not to bring charges for those two women in Los Angeles County. I think this is really interesting because you mentioned it is so incredibly rare for a case not to make it past that hurdle, that initial preliminary examination hurdle, because that is a very low bar, as you mentioned. It's probable cause. So the judge was finding in this case that there wasn't

even probable cause to move forward on some of those counts. Yeah, it's definitely surprising. I mean, the point of a preliminary hearing is to kind of restrict the power of a prosecutor and not be able to go around and bring frivolous charges. But the fact is, it's really just, was there a suspicion or was there some sort of belief that a crime had occurred? And you had these four victims who have said that they were raped. And usually kind of that statement, that they gave to the police and other evidence, would have been enough to be able to say that there was at least a suspicion

that a crime had occurred? And one of these victims is a woman named Jessica Barth. She is an actress. She was in, I believe, Ted, and it said that the charges accused Giot of raping her doing sexual penetration of an unconscious or unaware victim, sexual penetration of a drugged victim,

oral copulation of an intoxicated victim, an oral copulation of an unconscious or unaware victim. For Giot's part, his attorney is basically saying he's innocent and that he didn't do these things and he's been living under this cloud of suspicion now for some time. It may last for a little bit longer because her claims, the actress Barth's claims, was one of the ones that the judge found to be credible

because her text messages to him afterwards, the judge thought kind of corroborated her claim. I would be surprised if Los Angeles County, doesn't go ahead and kind of try to bring charges in L.A. County for her claims, as well as there's an actress, I mean, a waitress from 2018. Both of those were the ones who are credible. So this is, you know, I know he's kind of said in the press that, you know, that he's been cleared and he's innocent, but I think it's actually far from over. I imagine that we will see something in L.A. County based on those two women. Do you think L.A. County will pursue this? They're

prosecuting Harvey Weinstein, they are going with that full bore. They're moving forward on that. I think so. And they have even more of a reason. The fact that the judge dismissed the four women but said how credible he found the other two, I feel like in some ways it kind of lays out the gauntlet for the prosecutors. How do you not pick up the mantle at that point and try to pursue charges? And I just want to read very quickly this statement from the judge. This is about one of the women. She was highly intoxicated. She was dancing on the tables. She drank 10 glasses of wine. Good Lord. Poor woman. Oh my God. I'd be like in the hospital. Her dress was hiked up so everybody could see her undergarments. Her behavior was outrageous. She was outrageously drunk.

These are very interesting comments to make for an elected official, a sitting judge, in 22. It was so offensive reading that. I felt like, have we gone back 50 years? You know, he said also the fact that she stayed at the retreat, he thought, and he says, somebody who gets raped will not act like that. And my question is, if you haven't had that happen to you, I don't think you can say that. And it was a work retreat.

I mean, this is a problem. This is why Harvey Weinstein's conviction was so important, is because when you deal with things like work, there may be a reason why somebody tries to kind of get along with the person or why you would stay at the retreat. because you don't want to lose your job on top of having something really horrible happened to you. So I was kind of shocked at reading that statement by the judge because I thought in this day and age,

that shouldn't be how we evaluate whether or not somebody was raped or not is whether or not they're going to stay at a work retreat. Well, we will keep an eye on the case and we'll be looking to see whether or not L.A. County files charges against David Gio. Dina Dahl, thanks so much for being on Sidebar. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar. I'm Ann Janette Levy.

Thanks so much for being with us. This podcast is produced by Sean Bauer and Sam Goldberg. Bobby Zoki is our wonderful YouTube manager, and Alyssa Fisher is a booking producer for us. I'm Ann Janette Levy again. Thanks so much for being here, and we'll see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.