Jurors deliberating in the dueling defamation trial between celebrities Johnny Depp and Amber Heard adjourned Friday without issuing findings, deferring the conclusion of the six-week trial until next week.
The panel of seven discussed for more than two hours on Friday and will reconvene on Tuesday, following the US Memorial Day national holiday.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have filed defamation suits against one other. Depp filed the action after Heard described herself as a victim of domestic violence in an op-ed in the Washington Post.
The actor is suing his ex-wife Amber Heard in Virginia for $50 million, claiming that she defamed him when she referred to herself in an opinion piece as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Fellow star Heard countersued for $100 million, claiming that Depp slandered her when his lawyer dismissed her allegations as a “hoax.”
A defamation expert indicated that the actress might be prosecuted over charges she ‘edited injury images’ that were offered as evidence in the blockbuster suit as jurors retired on Friday.
As a rebuttal witness, a metadata specialist stated that he reviewed numerous of Heard’s images showing apparent evidence of bruising and claimed that he had no means of validating them.
Norbert “Bryan” Neumeister used various demonstratives in his testimony on the images to show the analytics of several photos given by Heard that showed bruising on her arms or face. Viewing a variety of photographs, Neumeister stated that the three files did not “match forensically” and indicated that there have been “transformation to change sizes.”
Neumeister asserted that no forensic specialist could confirm these photographs, and that he suspected several of them had been changed.
When celebrity Johnny Depp exited the courthouse on Friday, he was spotted smiling and waving to supporters, while Amber Heard was seen hugging her lawyer as jurors began deliberations in the acrimonious $100 million libel six-week trial.