Judge rejects Amber Heard’s demand for new trial

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Virginia judge on Wednesday rejected actress Amber Heard’s demand for a new trial in the defamation case she lost to ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Heard’s lawyers had asked Judge Penney Azcarate to vacate Depp’s million verdict and declare a mistrial, but the judge denied the request.

Heard had asked for a new trial because one of the seven jurors was not the man summoned for jury duty but his son in a case of mistaken identity.

“There is no evidence of fraud or irregularities,” Azcarate said, and the juror “met the legal requirements for service.”

In June, the jury found Depp and Heard liable for defamation, but sided more with the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star after an intense six-week trial based on bitterly contested allegations of domestic abuse.

The seven-member jury awarded Depp damages after determining that a 2018 newspaper article written by Heard about his experience of “sexual violence” was defamatory.