Mati Barnhart, knitted news19.12.22 19:26 25 in Kislo Tishpeg
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Actress Amber Heard reached a plea deal regarding the severe defamation lawsuit filed against her by her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Heard clarified in a long post on Instagram that she is not admitting guilt, and that the agreement does not constitute an admission of guilt. She claimed that she decided to reach a plea agreement following her difficult experiences with the American justice system.
“After many discussions, I came to a very difficult decision to reach a plea agreement in the defamation lawsuit filed against me by my ex-husband. It is important for me to emphasize that I never chose this.”
“I defended my truth and thus my life as I know it was destroyed. The condemnation directed at me on social media is an extreme example of victim blaming against women.”
“Now I finally have the opportunity to free myself from something that I tried to free myself from 6 years ago under conditions that I can meet. This is not an act of confession. There are no prohibitions on me in the future as far as what I am allowed to say.”
“I come to the decision after getting lost in the American legal system, where my testimony became entertainment on social networks.”
As you may recall, the actress already filed an appeal against the defamation suit last month, but admitted that even if she had succeeded, she would only have obtained a retrial, and made it clear that she was unable to go through this again.
“I just can’t go through this a third time,” Heard explained in the post.
As you know, Depp accused Heard of libel following an opinion piece she wrote in the Washington Post in 2018, where she described her experience with domestic abuse, after becoming, she said, a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Although Depp’s name was not mentioned in the article, his lawyers claimed that it refers to allegations made during their divorce in 2016.
After the divorce, Red issued an order to remove Depp from the house, and photos of the actress with signs of violence on her face and a video in which he angrily throws glasses and a bottle of wine were leaked online. Depp claims that Heard’s mask of accusations hurt him, and recently a video from their marriage was published, in which Depp is seen accusing her of punching him, and she says it wasn’t a punch, it was a blow. Depp says: “If things get physical, we have to break up.”
The high-profile trial lasted 6 weeks as part of the evidence phase and was broadcast live around the world. Many people took a look at the complicated marital system between the two described by dozens of witnesses who came to the trial.
The jury in the trial determined that she defamed him and the court determined that Heard must pay Depp 15 million dollars in damages in total. The judge in Virginia reduced the sentence to “only” 1,350,000.
It was also ruled that Heard will receive 2 million dollars following her claims of defamation against Depp’s lawyer.
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