Hollywood star Johnny Depp and his former wife Amber Heard, a fellow actor, are planning to take the stand in-person in Fairfax County.
Fairfax, VA — The long-awaited Johnny Depp defamation trial is set to begin next Monday in the Fairfax County Courtroom, where both Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard plan to take the stand personally.
Actors James Franco and Paul Bettany, along with billionaire Elon Musk and representatives from The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. and the Los Angeles Police Department, are also expected to testify at trial.
Hollywood star Depp, who has appeared in several blockbuster films, filed a defamation suit in 2019 against Heard, who is also an actor, for a 2018 Washington Post op-ed he wrote that included comments on domestic violence. Depp was not named in Heard's op-ed. But the actor argues that what Heard wrote in the op-ed hurt his career.
Why is testing in Fairfax County starting April 11th? Depp decided to file a defamation suit against Heard in Virginia because online versions of the Washington Post are published through computer servers in Fairfax County.
As InsideNova reports, Depp's attorneys also opted to file the case in Virginia because the state's anti-SLAPP law, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, is more relaxed than the one in California. Anti-SLAPP laws prevent people from using the courts, and the potential dangers of lawsuits, to intimidate others from exercising their First Amendment rights.
In March, however, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Penny Azkart, who will preside over the trial, said that Heard's attorney could argue that he was immune because he spoke about a matter of public concern with his op-ed. Had it.
Azcart issued a separate order on March 29 stating that the trial would be held in a courtroom on the fifth floor of the Fairfax County Circuit Court. The order stated that a limited number of seats would be available for litigants, their lawyers and members of the media and public in the courtroom.
A pool camera system will be used for the trial, the judge said, and should coordinate with a designated pool camera representative requesting all media access. The trial is expected to last at least a month.
The judge ordered that overnight camping would not be permitted at the Fairfax County Courthouse grounds, which include the entire county judicial complex along the boundaries of Chain Bridge Road, Judicial Drive and Main Street in Fairfax.
"In this suit, plaintiffs and their legal team shall not pose for photographs or sign autographs in the Courthouse or Courthouse grounds," the order said.
Franco and Musk are expected to testify on Hurd's behalf. Bettany will reportedly testify for Depp after her messages with the actor were made public at one of Depp's previous trials.
In 2016, Heard filed for divorce from Depp, whom she married in 2015 after meeting on the set of the film The Rum Diary. Heard alleged that Depp was "verbally and physically abusive to me" during "our entire relationship".
Hurd later received a $7 million settlement in 2016. Depp and Heard then said in a joint statement that "our relationship was extremely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love," adding, "There was never any intention of physical or emotional hurt."
But in response to a Washington Post op-ed, Depp denied all allegations of Heard's abuse. She then sued the British tabloid The Sun over an article that referred to Heard's allegations calling her a "wife beater".
"These sick claims are completely untrue," Depp said during that trial.
Depp lost the defamation suit in 2020 after a judge ruled that what The Sun published about him was "substantially true."