Johnny Depp has asked the Court of Appeal to order a retrial of his libel claim against The Sun over an article calling him a “wife beater”, which a High Court judge found was “substantially true”. Justice Nicol, the judge in the case, basically believed Amber Heard’s claims that she was abused, and found that the Sun, therefore, had every right to call Depp a “wife beater” on their front page.

Since this ruling, many tabloids, which I will not link to here, have run rampant, calling Depp a wife-beater and just about everything else in the book.

Johnny’s request for a retrial claims that he “did not receive a fair trial” and the judge’s ruling is “plainly wrong” and “manifestly unsafe”, according to documents filed by Mr. Depp’s legal team with the Court of Appeal.

Says David Sherborne, counsel for Johnny Depp: “The judge failed to properly assess [Heard’s] credibility by reference to documentary evidence, photographs, recordings or otherwise.” He further claimed that audio recordings of Mr Depp and Ms Heard while they were in a relationship demonstrated that “Ms Heard had not only been the violent one … but that she had also been untruthful in her oral evidence about the appellant’s violence”.

You can view the documents Johnny’s legal team filed on Nickwallis.com.

NGN will have to file a response and then a decision will be taken by a Court of Appeal judge on whether or not to allow the application (this can be done with or without a hearing). A decision could come down as early as January. If Depp’s request for a retrial is dismissed, it’s all over and Nicol’s judgment stands.

At that point, Johnny’s only recourse against his ex-wife (Heard) will be his upcoming defamation suit against her resulting from her op-ed in the Washington Post, in which she describes herself as a survivor of his domestic abuse. She doesn’t name him specifically in that piece, but she’s been naming him ever since their split in every other outlet, so her message was clear and obvious.

Here’s hoping the new year brings Johnny the vindication he deserves.

SOURCE
Hat tip to Nick Wallis