FAIRFAX, Va. (CN) — With trademark over-the-top flourish, Johnny Depp has managed to bring not one but two salacious trials to northern Virginia.
The first is official business at the Fairfax County Judicial Center: a defamation lawsuit the actor brought against "Aquaman" star Amber Heard, his ex-wife. Depp seeks a verdict finding that Heard defamed him in a 2018 op-ed in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. That article, he argues, sunk his career, depriving him of his signature role – Captain Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. He wants to clear his name and walk away with $50 million. Heard has countersued for $100 million.
For the past week, this trial has been in recess as Chief Judge Penney Azcarate attended a conference. The proceedings resume Monday and spectators must line up by 7 a.m. – most arrive hours earlier – to get one of approximately 100 wristbands allowing entry into the courtroom. Most are unsuccessful and head home to watch the proceedings on Court TV.
But that brings us to the second trial, which plays out in the court of public opinion. Think of it as a war of mass persuasion, a black-and-white film with a protagonist and antagonist, good and evil, and no room in between. On Twitter, YouTube and other platforms, fans and surrogates splice courtroom recordings into bits with false headlines and misleading narration.
In this court of public opinion, Depp's case has been lumped in with publicity over the #MeToo movement, although it doesn't totally fit. #MeToo stories more often revolve around an imbalance of power in the workplace. This is a defamation case that involves allegations of domestic abuse. Even so, the power dynamic is there – an internationally known actor on one hand, and a lesser-known actress on the other.
“As a lawyer myself and as someone who represents individuals, I wonder if publicly televising the entire trial is doing them a service or a disservice,” observed Valentina Shaknes, a New York-based family attorney with experience in domestic abuse cases. “It may matter less what the jury ultimately finds than how the public perceives it.”
A legal marathon
Before Heard’s op-ed appeared in The Washington Post, a publication in the United Kingdom, The Sun, published an article that described Depp as a "wife beater." Depp filed suit against the The Sun and its editor, Dan Wootton.
Depp had a significant advantage in that case. In the U.K., “defendants have the burden of proving the truth of their statements,” according to legal filings by Heard’s attorneys in the Virginia case.
But Depp lost in England, with a judge ruling he’d abused Heard on a dozen occasions.
He has a more pronounced legal burden in the U.S.
“I think it is important to remember the context,” Shaknes said, referring to the fact that it is a defamation suit and Depp is a public figure. "He has to prove she is acting with intent or reckless disregard [of the truth]. All she has to prove is that he was on some occasions, or on one occasion, abusive to her and she was in fact a victim."
That said, to follow the case is to feel barraged with vile episode upon vile episode. At times, there is no definitive version of events. Take for example the story about how Depp severed his finger. It happened in 2015, while Depp and Heard were in Australia, where he was filming one of the “Pirates” flicks.
Depp contends that one of his fingers was severed after Heard picked up a bottle and hurled it at him. In his telling, his hand was draped over the edge of the bar and the bottle struck his finger. But there are also texts in which Depp writes that he chopped his finger off.
He says he never assaulted Heard or any other woman. But Heard testified that during the argument in Australia, Depp raped her with a bottle. This brutal story wasn't brought up in public hearings during the past three years since the lawsuit was filed. To be sure, not all hearings in the Fairfax County case were open to the public. In the U.K. case, the BBC reported that one of the allegations was “too traumatic and personal to be heard in open court.”
"The jury is going to have to find which of the two they find more credible,” Shaknes remarked. “Of course, they are both actors and they are each accusing the other of giving the performance of their lifetime. So, in the case where credibility is going to be ultimately determining, it is almost indirectly an assessment of their respective skill and talent. Which one of them is going to put on the better performance? Which one of them is going to be more persuasive? And which one of them is going to put on more collateral witnesses who will be able to corroborate the different parts of their testimony?”
The court of public opinion
On the fourth week of trial, Dusty Shenofsky decided to go to the courthouse. She lives not far away, in the city of Fairfax, and arrived at 5 a.m. to get a wristband. Already, a line snaked up the courthouse walkway. When 7 a.m. rolled around and the deputies began handing out wristbands, Shenofsky did not make it into the courtroom but gained admittance to an overflow room, where the trial can be watched on television screens. The following days, she arrived between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. and waited four hours for a place in the courtroom.
On the sidewalk, she and fellow fans took turns sleeping.
“Initially I wanted to go because I felt like I wanted to take it in, see it,” Shenofsky remembered. After a time, “I felt this is a great opportunity for [Depp's] fans to rise up and give him the support that he needs.”
She has been a Depp fan since her teenage years. She remembers him in “Nightmare on Elm Street,” and the TV show “21 Jump Street.”
“I love all of his movies,” she said. “I’ve seen all his movies.”
“Nightmare on Elm Street” debuted nearly four decades ago. For Depp’s fans, the actor has been a constant presence on film. Shenofsky’s son once dressed as Jack Sparrow for Halloween.
She said she was shocked by Heard’s story of marital rape and domestic abuse but didn’t believe it.
“And I feel like that’s a really insidious thing to accuse somebody of, if it’s really not real, of course,” she said.
Early on, there were several Heard supporters at the courthouse. As Heard continues to tell her story and other witnesses are put on the stand, public attitudes could change. But for the time being, Shenofsky has not encountered any supporters of the actress at the courthouse.
Heard will again take the stand Monday. When her testimony and cross-examination is complete, other witnesses are expected to testify on her behalf. Closing arguments are set for May 27.
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