While the rest of the world was rapt, the people in the courtroom were trying to remain awake while Johnny Depp and Amber Heard battled it out on live streams.
The court stenographer for the Depp v. Heard defamation trial, Judy Bellinger, has made some shocking revelations about the contentious six-week trial.
“There were a few jurors who were dozing off,” Bellinger told the Law & Crime network on Monday, admitting “it was tough” to sit through the many hours of testimony.
Speaking to Law and Crime Network, Bellinger said: “I remember the jury […] were listening very intently, and unfortunately when the jury was chosen, we knew that there gonna be some that would not see it all the way through – that there were alternates. We knew who the alternates were from the start because they just picked the names randomly.”
Bellinger said there was one alternate that stuck out as the ‘best juror’, but that even she struggled to get through the trial.
“I watched her facial expressions, she was very deeply into every word that was being said,” she said.
“I thought she would have made a great juror, and she did not make it to the end.”
Going into further detail, Bellinger said: “She was playing close attention. You know, there were a few jurors who were dozing off. She never dozed off.”
When asked if the jurors who were falling asleep were in the front or back row, Bellinger replied: “Both. And it was tough because there was a lot of video deposition, and they would just sit there, and all of a sudden I’d see their head drop.”
Multiple witnesses testified during the highly publicized and televised trial, including Depp’s ex-partner and British supermodel Kate Moss, who testified about his alleged aggression.
Psychologists testified on Heard’s mental health, as did Depp’s bodyguard, who testified about the actor’s drug use.
Depp and Heard testified themselves, with Heard saying of their divorce in 2016: “I knew if I didn’t I’d likely not literally survive. I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me and I really didn’t want to leave him, I loved him so much.
“I would have done anything but I couldn’t do that one thing, I couldn’t stay.”
Depp claimed in a statement after winning the lawsuit that he had been the victim of “false, very serious, and criminal allegations,” which had generated an “endless barrage of hateful content” and had a “seismic impact” on his life and business.
He added: “The jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled.”
In her own statement issued after the verdict, Heard said: “I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American – to speak freely and openly.”
Source: unilad.co
