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The verdict may have come in, but the battle between actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp seems far from over.
After a jury ruled mostly in favor of Depp in the defamation case between the formerly married actors, Heard's legal team has vowed to appeal the decision.
But now a new curve ball has been thrown into this media circus of a case--the jury that ruled in Depp's favor apparently contained a juror who was never summoned for jury duty.
Now, Heard's lawyers are demanding a mistrial following the revelation of the shocking and suspicious error.
\u201cAmber Heard's lawyers have asked for a mistrial.\nhttps://t.co/0z9BU0kaoF\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1657322100
The jurors in question were left unnamed in Heard's legal complaint. But her team cited their discovery that the juror was never summoned for jury duty. Rather, someone in the same household, who is 25 years older, was the one to receive the summons.
How such a thing could have slipped through the cracks is a mystery. But Heard's attorneys are unsurprisingly calling for the trial and its verdict to both be thrown out because of the error. In its filing, Heard's legal team wrote:
"As the Court no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this."
"This was a high-profile case, where the fact and date of the jury trial were highly publicized prior to and after the issuance of the juror summonses."
The trial stemmed from an op-ed Heard wrote for The Washington Post in which she discussed having been a victim of domestic and sexual abuse.
Though Depp was never named in the op-ed, the two were married during the time period discussed in the op-ed, and he sued Heard for defamation, alleging that she had abused him. Heard in turn countersued.
The trial, which devolved into utter chaos practically from the beginning, resulted in a $10.35 million judgment against Heard and a $2 million judgment against Depp.
A wrong juror having been seated would have precluded Heard's legal team from doing proper background research on the juror in question, an integral part of jury selection for any trial. Her legal team has claimed that this infringed on Heard's right to due process.
Depp's legal team has responded to Heard's claims, calling them "pure speculation" and claiming she has provided no evidence.
\u201cNEW: Johnny Depp\u2019s lawyers have responded to Amber Heard\u2019s motion for a new trial based on allegations that Juror 15 was NOT the juror who was called to serve. #DeppVsHeard #JohnnyDeppVsAmberHeardTrial\u201d— Lucia Osborne-Crowley (@Lucia Osborne-Crowley) 1657562432
On Twitter, the news reignited the furor that consumed social media for weeks during the original trial.
\u201ci gotta say amber heard is a much classier woman than i am because i would be going level 1000 sicko mode like what do you mean some freak was just sitting there playing juror for six weeks\u201d— kathleen (@kathleen) 1657315090
\u201cJuror was not the real juror confirmed holy shittt https://t.co/Zex9eEktPq\u201d— Kamilla (@Kamilla) 1657311365
\u201camber heard getting a new trial because the juror wasn\u2019t who they thought they were would be the gag of the century. i hope his ass lose too lol\u201d— IG: 5hahem (@IG: 5hahem) 1657332239
\u201cHow in the hell did a random person manage to sneak themselves on to serving on this jury. #JusticeForAmber https://t.co/XGVYthAsmN\u201d— Ivana Escalera (@Ivana Escalera) 1657313355
\u201ci have...NEVER had more questions. ever https://t.co/Dd8hkUp0lq\u201d— josie duffy rice (@josie duffy rice) 1657321064
\u201cAmber Heard\u2019s legal TEAM had 72 hours to review the juror list. So either NO ONE on her team did their due diligence OR those grimy jerk offs noticed the discrepancy & withheld to use later. #AmberHeardCommittedPerjury #AmberHeardIsALiar #JusticeForJohnnyDepp #Juror15\u201d— Jenny Benners (@Jenny Benners) 1657493568
\u201cWhen the fraudulent juror saw his daddy\u2019s jury summons and kept at the chance to hop on the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard jury, just so he could fall asleep, and not pay attention to the judge\u2019s instructions for rendering a verdict:\u201d— \u2728Sailor Moon Cricket\u2728 (@\u2728Sailor Moon Cricket\u2728) 1657374248
\u201c@DEADLINE Amber's team had opportunity to do their job, which was to verify jury info among other things, at the beginning of trial. Oops, they didn't. Attached is the Court law Elaine cites in the footnote to say it was not her job... which clearly states it was her job.\u201d— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline Hollywood) 1657309613
\u201c\u201cThus, the 52-year-old sitting on the jury for six weeks was never summoned for jury duty on April 11 and did not appear in the list.\u201d \n\nI guess the court clerks were too distracted by \u201cDepp\u2019s charm\u201d to be able to do their job \ud83d\ude44\n\n#JusticeForAmber \n\nhttps://t.co/ricFVeUztJ\u201d— TalyaAgain (@TalyaAgain) 1657311977
\u201c@Variety Uh, yea. Random people can\u2019t show up for jury duty. How did that even happen?!\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1657318177
Legal experts have questioned whether Heard's team's gambit will work, saying it will likely come down to whether they can prove true prejudice on the part of the wrongfully seated juror.