The judge in the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard libel trial was temporarily speechless on Wednesday after the court was shown pre-recorded testimony of a bouncer driving and vaping as he spoke.
A visibly stunned Penney Azcarate described Alejandro Romero’s testimony as “a first” and ordered the court to take an early lunch break after the video played.
The jury’s laughter was also heard throughout the recording, in which Romero, who worked at the Los Angeles apartment building where Depp and Heard had lived together, described the moment he was investigating what he believed to be a possible intruder that it was just a dog.
Romero described searching the property after Heard reported a scratching at the door, which she believed could have been an intruder.
“They were talking about someone trying to break into their unit, and in my head I was like, ‘Do you really think someone’s trying to break into your unit?'” Romero said. “There are scratches on your door four inches off the floor. That was a dog trying to get into your unit.
“They were so scared – I actually went. They asked me to go into the unit just to check room by room to make sure nobody was actually there.”
Romero added that he did the search because it was part of his job, but that he “didn’t understand why they wanted me to do it.”
He also once expressed his frustration with the case, saying he had been “so stressed” and “didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”
As the video ended, Azcarate told the court it was a “good time for a lunch break.” Then she took off her glasses, raised her eyebrows and shook her head from side to side.
After a long pause, she added, “Okay…that was a first, sorry.”
Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, replied, “I will say, Your Honor, that was the most bizarre statement…”
Azcarate cut her off, raising her hands and saying, “Yeah, OK, I just have to say I’ve never seen that before. I’ve seen a lot of things, but I’ve never seen this before.”