Amber Heard’s attorney Benjamin Rottenborn delivers summations in her dueling defamation claims against ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Delivering his closing arguments to jurors in a Virginia courthouse, Amber Heard’s attorney urged them to consider the ramifications this case has on domestic abuse survivors and the First Amendment.
“Think about the message that Mr. Depp and his attorneys are send to Amber and by extension to every victim of domestic abuse and everywhere,” Heard’s attorney Benjamin Rottenborn said. “If you didn’t take pictures, it didn’t happen. If you did take pictures, they’re fake. If you didn’t tell your friends, they’re lying. If you did tell your friends, they’re part of the hoax. If you didn’t seek medical treatment, you weren’t injured. If you did seek medical treatment, you’re crazy.”
“And if you finally decide that enough is enough, you’ve had enough of the fear, enough of the pain, and you have to leave to save yourself: You’re a gold digger. That is the message that Mr. Depp is asking you to send.”
“Protected by the First Amendment”
On Dec. 18, 2018, Heard’s byline appeared on a Washington Post op-ed stating that she became a “public figure representing domestic abuse” two years earlier. The editorial did not mention Depp by name, and it mostly focused on political themes related to the #MeToo movement.
“This isn’t a hit piece,” Rottenborn said.
The lawyer urged the jury to parse Heard’s statements about the public figure she came to represent closely.
“You can decide this case without ever wading into any of the allegations, the facts, the evidence that you’ve heard about the heinous abuse of Ms. Heard suffered at the hands of Mr. Depp,” Rottenborn said. “You can decide that by determining that those statements…
