We do indeed have to stay within the bounds of the law and his was a weak legal argument going into the case. However, the legal strategy his team have employed have been focussed on her evidence rather than his.
If he were to file for assault and battery the burden of proof would be on him. As it stands, this trial tests the veracity of her statement. It was a gamble and it paid off. What her legal counsel likely advised her to do (and what I would’ve advised her to do) is stick to the legal argument. This doesn’t mention him. This section doesn’t refer to him. A tweet is not republication.
She didn’t do that. She said he was a monster and she struggled under cross. Bits of her story don’t make much sense, she’s got mountains of evidence of him sleeping and occasionally banging things - she’s got photos of bruises but they don’t match her testimony. She threw her own legal team under the bus when she was asked about any other photos.
I think she will win two counts and he will win the last (for the retweet). The original op-ed is less defamatory than the online version. Depp’s team have argued her intention was ‘physical or sexual abuse’ but the jury may find the psychological abuse compelling enough to throw his defamation suit out.
She did retweet ‘victim of sexual abuse’ from the online article and used the trial to make it clear it was Depp to whom she referred m. Her team argues she didn’t write the title, but it’s not brilliantly convincing. Depp’s team closed with ‘you can believe everything or nothing this woman says and it’s her word against his, and all these other witnesses’
I don’t think Depp cares about the money or even winning. I really don’t. I think he wanted those allegations made in open court because that’s his out. Even if the jury return a verdict of not liable, then most people will understand about the legal burden of proof he struggled against and will still consider the case he-said/she-said - it’s been damaging for him but it’s going to end her career without a shadow of a doubt. This is Depp’s chance to tell his side of the story, and rebalance the narrative after six years of condemnation and silence. Primates like us are hard wired for fairness, and that’s what a legal trial must is, the fairest way we have of settling disputes.
