Depp v. Heard is far from over. Appearing on Today, Amber Heard’s attorney Elaine Charlson Bredehoft said the actor plans to appeal the decision handed down yesterday that she defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp in an op-ed about domestic abuse that did not name the star. “Absolutely,†Bredehoft said when asked about an appeal, “and she has some excellent grounds for it.†Charlson Bredehoft went on to discuss evidence that she claimed was “suppressed†in the trial that was allowed to be entered in a similar U.K. trial that found Depp did abuse Heard. The U.S. jury was not allowed to know the outcome of the U.K. case, involving newspaper The Sun. She also cited the social-media response to the case in favor of Depp, which she claimed could have influenced jurors — who were not sequestered and took ten days off mid-trial due to a judicial conference. “There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced by it,†Charlson Bredehoft said. “It’s like the Roman Coliseum, how they reviewed this whole case.†The attorney additionally said Heard can “absolutely not†afford the $10.4 million in damages she now owes Depp. (The jury awarded Depp $15 million, $5 million of which were punitive damages, which are capped at $350,000 in Virginia, where the case was tried. The jury also awarded Heard $2 million in her countersuit against Depp.)
“I’m sad I lost this case,†Heard said in a statement. “But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.†Throughout the Today interview, Charlson Bredehoft called the verdict “a setback for all women,†and added that Heard “feels the burden of that.†“Unless you pull out your phone and you video your spouse or your significant other beating you, effectively, you won’t be believed,†Charlson Bredehoft claimed.