Johnny Depp’s legal team has rested their case in Amber Heard’s defamation trial, now in its fourth week in court in Fairfax, Virginia. Judge Penney Azcarate says the case will proceed, striking two motions to dismiss, but keeping one under advisement.
Heard is being sued by Depp for $50m (£38.2m) for implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Although she did not name him, he claims her allegations made it difficult for him to land movie roles.
This week Depp’s agent described his career leading up to and following the publication of the op-ed, calling it “catastrophic”. He said Depp lost his role in the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and he was unable to sign any studio productions in the years after.
An expert witness testified the actor potentially lost a total of $40m in earnings.
Further testimony was given by a nurse employed by Heard who said she was prone to outbursts of rage and described apparent injuries to her after the couple had allegedly fought.
Heard is expected to testify on Wednesday and provide her own account of the relationship. The first witness her team will call is a psychologist who is expected to refute diagnoses of personality disorders heard earlier in the trial.
