Juror in Johnny Depp Trial Says Amber Heard’s Testimony ‘Didn’t Add Up’, Jury Believed She Was ‘the Aggressor’

A juror from the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial spoke for the first time about the jury’s decision to side with Depp in an interview Thursday with Good Morning America.

The male juror — GMA did not reveal his name or juror number, per request — said that verdict ultimately swayed in Depp’s favor because “a lot of Amber’s story didn’t add up.”

“It didn’t come across as believable,” the juror said. “It seemed like she was able to flip the switch on her emotions. She would answer one question, and she would be crying, and two seconds later, she would turn ice cold. It didn’t seem natural.”

The juror added that some members of the trial’s seven-person jury used the word “crocodile tears” amongst each other to describe Heard’s testimony.

Depp prevailed on all three claims in his civil suit and was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages of $5 million. The actress won one of three claims in the countersuit against her former husband and was awarded $2 million.

As the juror told GMA, the jury thought Heard’s defense ultimately did not prove that Depp was physically abusive toward the actress; on the contrary, the jury found that Heard was actually the “aggressor” in the relationship.

“They had their husband-wife arguments. They were both yelling at each other,” the juror said. “I don’t think that makes either of them right or wrong. That’s what you do when you get into an argument, I guess. But to rise to the level of what she was claiming, there wasn’t enough or any evidence that really supported what she was saying.”

Other missteps from Heard’s defense, according to the juror, included testimony regarding the $7 million from the actors’ divorce agreement that Heard pledged (but largely didn’t donate) to charity. “The fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all,” the juror said. “It was disingenuous.” 

The jury also questioned why — if Heard was in an abusive relationship — she would gift Depp a large knife. “If you have a battered wife or spouse situation, why would you buy the other person, the ‘aggressor,’ a knife,” the juror said. 

Over the televised, six-week trial, both Heard and Depp’s legal teams marched a parade of friends, employees, and family members to the stand; the jury admitted that all that witness testimony didn’t factor into deliberations. 

In the aftermath of the verdict, Heard’s lawyers blamed the onslaught of social media vitriol aimed at the actress for, in part, swaying the jury’s decision. However, the juror denied that claim, saying that three of the seven jurors didn’t even have a Twitter account.

“That’s not true. Social media did not impact us,” the juror said. “We followed the evidence. We didn’t take into account anything outside [the courtroom]. We only looked at the evidence.”

In her first interview since the trial earlier this week, Heard said, “This is the most humiliating and horrible thing I’ve ever been through. I have never felt more removed from my own humanity. I felt less than human.” She added that the jury’s decision to side with Depp was “surreal and difficult”

From Rolling Stone US.