One of the jurors in Johnny Depp’s blockbuster case against Amber Heard was never called to jury duty and had a wrong place in the trial, an attorney for Heard argued in a Friday court filing.
“Juror #15 was not the person summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022 and therefore was not a part of the jury panel and could not have properly served on the jury in this trial,” said Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft. “Therefore, a mistrial should be declared and a new trial ordered.”
The person appointed to serve on the jury was born in 1945 and was 77 years old at the time of the trial, Bredehoft wrote in the file. But the person who was selected for and belonged to the jury was 52 years old, according to Bredehoft.
Both individuals share the same last name and appear to live at the same address in Fairfax County, Virginia, where the record says the trial took place. But, Bredehoft wrote, the wrong man had turned up for jury duty.
The names of the real juror and the suspected fake juror have been redacted from court filings first reported by Deadline.
The sitting juror appeared to provide false information and a false date of birth on the court’s jury questionnaire website in order to circumvent court security, the filing says.
“As the Court will no doubt agree, it is deeply disturbing for a person who has not been summoned to serve on a jury to nevertheless appear on jury duty and be a member of a jury, particularly in a case like this,” Bredehoft argued. “This was a high profile case where the fact and date of the jury trial was made public before and after the jury subpoenas were issued.”
The new filing builds on Heard’s July 1 motion to overturn the sentence, also first reported by Deadline.
In June, the jury found both Heard and Depp guilty of defaming each other, alleging they had abused each other during their relationship and lied about their actions.
But Depp secured a much bigger win, winning on all three of his counts and more than $10 million in damages. Heard won just one of her three counts and was awarded just $2 million in damages.
Heard’s earlier motion to set aside the verdict initially raised questions about the identity of Juror 15 and prompted the court to investigate.
“The information on the jury list does not appear to match the identity and demographics of any of the jurors,” Bredehoft wrote. “Juror #15 was apparently born in 1970, not 1945 as reported and trusted by the parties – including Ms. Heard – in selecting a jury panel.”
Bredehoft has previously said in interviews that she believes mainstream media attention to the case influenced the jury, which Depp’s team has denied.
“They went home every night. They have families. The families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the Judicial Conference,” Bredehoft told NBC’s Today show.
“There’s no way they weren’t affected by it,” she added. “And it was terrible. It was really, really wrong.”
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