That was dealt with in the trial. As I've said in my piece on the subject, I would've thrown out the claim of defamation and hung the jury. I believe they were likely violent towards each other at some stage - and that was the legal strategy Heard should've picked. All she had to do was show that they hit each other at least once, but instead she doubled down, fell apart under cross and got caught in her own lies and fantasies about what did happen.
The UK trial was dealing with a different question, and over here in the UK we have different rules of disclosure. Heard was not the defendent and was instead a witness for the defence... as such her evidence wasn't given to the plaintiff to prepare for. You've also misunderstood the law here... the judge did not find Depp guilty, this was a civil trial. He found 'on the balance of probabilities' that Depp assaulted Heard and therefore the Newspaper group and their editor were found not liable. A large part of the judge's reasoning was found because a) he believed Depp was drunk and on drugs (which was true) and because he believed Amber Heard's testimony prima facie (which was an error). He believed, on balance, that she wasn't lying because she had nothing to gain from Depp after donating all her money to charity. Except... she didn't. The flaws in the evidence she presented that weren't examined closely by the judge (because she was not the defendent) were pulled apart in front of a jury.
As it happens, there's a group of barristers in the UK who think the UK case needs to be reopened to bring it in line with the US trial and I'm inclined to agree with them. They are incompatible results.
And, if we're going to play this game, I'd like to see you married to a twenty something person with borderline personality disorder, who fakes some injuries, tanks your career, turns the public against you - and when she's eventually found to have done this (unanimously by a jury) in a court of law filled with both female attorneys and a female judge - for you to get it in the neck because you don't 'seem like the victim'
Except i don't wish that, because that's cruel. What I do wish can be better found in my centre ground opinion you can find here.
And if you stick around for a bit, there will also be a more in depth piece about the incompatibility between the London trial and the Virginia trial and how both verdicts were fair - but that one needs to change.
