Johnny Depp’s lawyers are “hopeful” they will be able to convince an appellate court in Virginia to overturn the verdict on one count from his defamation trial that found him liable for the words of his lawyer.
Camille Vasquez and Jessica Meyers spoke with the Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy in their first sit-down interview together following the verdict. The pair discussed their strategy at trial, how they formed the legal team and how they were selected to handle the cross-examination of Amber Heard and the direct testimony of Johnny Depp.
A jury in Fairfax County, Virginia found Amber Heard liable on three counts of defamation in June for the 2018 Washington Post op-ed she wrote in which she described becoming a public figure representing domestic abuse two years prior. Depp was awarded $10.35 million in damages.
The jury found Depp liable on one count of defamation for a statement his lawyer, Adam Waldman, made to the Daily Mail in 2020 and awarded Heard $2 million in damages. In that statement, Waldman told the publication that Heard’s claims of abuse were a “hoax” and that her friends calling 911 on May 21, 2016 to Depp and Heard’s penthouse that night was part of an elaborate plan to make Depp look like an abuser and Heard the victim.
“Quite simply this was an ambush, a hoax. They set Mr. Depp up by calling the cops but the first attempt didn’t do the trick,” Waldman told The Daily Mail. “The officers came to the penthouses, thoroughly searched and interviewed, and left after seeing no damage to face or property. So Amber and her friends spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight under the direction of a lawyer and publicist, and then placed a second call to 911.”
The jury found that Waldman was acting as Depp’s agent when he made the statement.
“We’re hopeful,” Vasquez said. “There’s not a lot of case law in Virginia on this particular very nuanced legal issue. So we’re hopeful that the court will take him into consideration.”
Law&Crime Presents: The Women Behind Johnny Depp’s Victory airs Monday, Oct. 3 at 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. EST.