First up, what happened to you sounds absolutely horrific and I'm glad you're out of it. It sounds like you needed to be and should be. Whether the man is a psychopath or whether he has unresolved attachment issues or EUPD is a difficult question to answer. I would presume the latter - psychopaths do a very very good job of maintaining relationships if they want to - those with personality disorders do not.
I have highlighted the above because it is problematic for a number of reasons, most of them legal. I covered a lot of it here. https://medium.com/p/ff430bc02e78
Nicol ruled accusations against Depp made by Heard were substantially true. In general, he dismissed Depp’s allegations that Amber Heard lied and didn’t enjoy it when he cast doubt on her statements.This happens a lot in the courtroom and is called DARVO (deny, accuse, and reverse victim and offender.) UK judges are trained to watch for this and will throw it out if they find it. That’s pretty much what this judge did, he judged most of the aspersions Depp cast on Heard’s testimony to be an attempt to make himself the victim and Heard the villain.
Here in the UK, the judge put a great deal of sway in what Amber Heard told him and less into what Depp said. Nicol was particularly swayed by Heard’s testimony that she had donated all of her divorce settlement to charity and therefore had nothing to gain from lying. In the UK, the judge had a different burden of proof and a different question to answer. He wasn’t trying to determine whether Heard had defamed Depp, rather that the Sun and Daniel Wooten were substantially correct in their belief Depp had abused Heard.Depp’s legal defence faced an uphill struggle largely because any attempt to question the validity of evidence was seen as either irrelevant or an attempt to DARVO.
In essence what we saw at the US trial was a more in depth correction of the UK trial. In the US Amber Heard was the defendant while Johnny Depp was the plaintiff, no longer a proxy war fought on foreign soil.Now under the rules of discovery much of the evidence Heard gave to the UK judge was then subjected to more rigorous examination and better prepared cross examination. Photographs were demonstrated to have been doctored, medical records were found to be absent, claims that money had been ‘donated’ were found to be somewhat exaggerated.Things the UK judge had relied upon for his ‘balance of probabilities’ judgment were torn apart under an effective cross.
What the UK judge considered DARVO, the jury considered to be true and found in Depp’s favour. Depp had the weaker case heading in. As attorney Ryan Baker told the BBC back before the trial started.“For the jury to side with Johnny Depp, they will have to completely disregard Amber Heard’s testimony, consider her a liar, all the jury needs to do is believe some of what she’s saying.”For Depp to have won in the US there would need to be actual malice. That’s why it was such a steep hill to climb. Depp had to prove not only that false statements were made but they were knowingly made and he needed to convince seven independent people (rather than one legal person)Full disclosure, I would’ve hung the jury on it. I believe Amber Heard believes Amber Heard — I also think it’s very likely that two of them engaged in at least one physical altercation over their time together.
That isn't to say that I think Amber Heard is a villain - because I don't. I think they were a toxic combination. Highlighted here. https://medium.com/p/c661852e5ae
But I do think there's a wider problem and I think it's going to play out with the Blake Lively case. I think we've got to be very very very very careful about rushing in on this one. I haven't read what she's said in her document, so I won't comment widely on it.... what I will say is that society would do better to wait for the matter to hit the courts, for everything to be explored there and to cease commenting either for/against anyone involved. It is human nature to make snap judgements with limited information but this is de-railing the main principles of feminism and making the world a less safer place for women.
https://medium.com/lucid-nightmare/how-amber-heard-crashed-the-course-of-feminism-c0ec43ff7a52
