Amber Heard - new accusations

[ThistlesAndUnicorns]

Amber Heard has now alleged Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her at the start of the defamation trial. Thoughts?

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/johnny-depp-amber-heard-trial-court-updates-b2056201.html

Now we are seeing another difference between the UK courts and the US courts.

Earlier we heard from a forensic psychologist giving evidence for Depp. Her evidence was exactly what Depp would have wanted it to be. Now we are hearing from a forensic psychologist giving evidence for Heard. Her evidence is exactly what Heard would want it to be.

As expert witnesses, their first duty is to the court, not their client. They are supposed to give their honest opinion to the court, not tailor it for their client. They should be impartial and objective. That is true in both the UK and the US. However, the evidence of these witnesses is so tailored to their respective clients that it raises real questions as to whether they are being impartial and objective. If this was the UK, it might raise questions about whether they should be allowed to serve as expert witnesses in future cases.

However, the big difference is that, in the UK, these experts would have been expected to work with each other, agree as much as possible between them and provide the court with a document setting out the areas of agreement. They would then also provide documents setting out the areas where they disagreed. This allows the proceedings to concentrate on the areas of disagreement rather than spending time questioning the experts about the areas where they agree.

In this case, with such wildly differing views on Heard's mental health, the jury will have to decide which expert they find more credible (or decide to ignore both of them).

@prh47bridge

Did the UK case conclude that she was a victim?

I watched her on the stand yesterday. She comes across to me as credible.

I think the social media commentary on Amber has been horrific.

She isn’t instigating this - he is.

It feels to me like she is being attacked and needs to defend now - in court.

The thing is Johnny can potentially afford to ‘buy’ witnesses that will favour his side.

I think he has also ‘afforded’ a PR team who are prevalent on social media.

The judge in the UK concluded that Depp is a wife beater and found that 12 of the 14 incidents of abuse alleged by Heard had taken place.

Personally, I would say that, if her claims are false, she instigated it by making them. However, if her claims are true, this is continued abuse by Depp as she effectively alleges in her cross-suit.

I would be careful with allegations that Depp has "bought" witnesses. That is potentially libellous to both Depp and the witnesses concerned. It is clear that some of his witnesses are loyal to him, although that doesn't prove they lied. It is less clear that the police officers, medical practitioners and others who gave evidence have any reason to lie.

UK trials are not broadcast so we didn't see how Heard performed when giving evidence in that trial, but the judge clearly found her credible. It will be a few weeks before we know what the jury make of it. However, unlike the judge in the UK, the jury in this case does not have to give reasons for the verdict. Because of the way libel laws work in the US, the jury may decide that Depp did not beat Heard but still find that she has not libelled him.

Just to add to my last sentence - if the jury find for Heard, we will not know whether they think Depp abused her or not unless the jurors agree to be interviewed by the press.