Amber Heard plans to ask a Virginia court to throw out a jury’s verdict against her in Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit over domestic violence allegations.
The “Aquaman” actress filed a notice to appeal Thursday, a week after a judge refused to grant her a new trial, according to online records from the Virginia Court of Appeals.
“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment. We are therefore appealing the verdict,” a spokesperson for Heard told the Daily News in a statement.
“While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”
Last month, the 36-year-old Heard was ordered to pay her ex-husband more than $10 million in compensatory damages after a jury decided that she defamed him when she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a Washington Post op-ed that did not name him.
Heard’s lawyers vowed to appeal and earlier this month requested a mistrial, claiming that one of the jurors was never actually summoned and alleging “potential improper juror service.” The filing alleged a “discrepancy” about the age of one of the jurors who was born in 1970, not 1945 as reported by the court.
Judge Penny Azcarate declined, saying there was “no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing.”
A lawyer for Depp did not immediately return a request for comment from The News Thursday.
During the ugly six-week trial that played out live on TV and across social media, Heard alleged physical and emotional abuse by Depp, including sexually assaulting her with a glass liquor bottle, slapping her and head-butting her. Depp accused the actress of being the aggressor, including “demeaning name-calling” and throwing a bottle at him that sliced off part of his finger.
In a post-verdict interview on NBC, Heard confessed to “horrible, regrettable” behavior during her marriage but said she was only ever reacting to Depp, not initiating.
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