Actor Amber Heard suffered post-traumatic stress dysfunction from violence she suffered by the hands of her ex-husband Johnny Depp, together with a number of acts of sexual assault, a psychologist testified Tuesday.
The sexual assaults included being pressured to carry out oral intercourse and having Depp penetrate her with a liquor bottle, the psychologist, Daybreak Hughes, instructed jurors at Depp’s libel trial towards Heard. He accuses her of falsely claiming in a newspaper op-ed piece that she was a sufferer of home violence.
Hughes’ testimony contradicts that of a psychologist employed by Depp’s legal professionals, who stated Heard was faking her signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction and suffered from borderline and histrionic character issues. Hughes disputed that Heard suffers from any character dysfunction.
Hughes was the primary witness to take the stand on Heard’s behalf after Depp’s legal professionals rested their case Tuesday morning.
Hughes stated there may be corroboration of most of the situations of abuse, together with apologies and admissions made by Depp to Heard and admissions he made to associates in textual content messages about his unhealthy conduct when he drinks. In some instances, Heard instructed her therapists in regards to the abuse contemporaneously, Hughes stated.
Depp has stated he by no means bodily attacked Heard, and that she was the aggressor who routinely hit him and threw issues at him by way of the course of their relationship.
Hughes, in her testimony, stated Heard acknowledged that she did at occasions push and shove Depp, name him names and insult his parenting.
However Hughes stated there’s a distinction within the violence when a smaller particular person strikes at a bigger particular person, and that Depp’s violence was intimidating and threatened her security, however Heard’s violence didn't have the identical impact on Depp.
“That’s simply physics; that’s simply proportional drive,” she stated.
A lot of the violence, Hughes stated, stemmed from Depp’s obsessive jealousy. He insisted she keep away from nude scenes, if she labored in any respect, and accused her of affairs with actors Billy Bob Thornton and James Franco. If she did work on a movie, Depp would name the director and others on set and say he “had eyes” there who would report back to him if she fraternized improperly, Hughes stated.
And Heard, who identifies as bisexual in accordance with remedy notes launched at trial, additionally confronted scrutiny in her interactions with girls. Hughes stated Depp on one event manually penetrated Heard in anger after witnessing Heard’s interactions with a lady.
“Amber bought accused of ladies hitting on her, and she or he bought accused of males hitting on her,” Hughes stated.
Heard blinked again tears, and her lips and chin quivered at occasions as Hughes described the abuse.
Hughes stated she primarily based her testimony on 29 hours of interviews with Heard, in addition to interviews together with her therapists and a assessment of courtroom paperwork.
Earlier Tuesday, Depp’s legal professionals rested their case, and a decide rejected a movement from Heard’s legal professionals to dismiss the case. Heard’s legal professionals argued that Depp had didn't make his case as a matter of legislation and that no affordable jury might discover in his favor.
However the decide, Penney Azcarate, stated the usual for dismissing a case at this level within the trial is exceedingly excessive, and that the case ought to be allowed to maneuver ahead if Depp has supplied even a “scintilla” of proof backing up his claims.
Depp and his lead lawyer, Benjamin Chew, patted one another on the again after the decide dominated the case can proceed.
Chew argued that the jury has a wealth of proof to conclude that Heard falsely accused Depp of abuse. In actual fact, he stated, the proof exhibits that “Ms. Heard bodily abused him. She’s the abuser.”
Heard’s lawyer, J. Benjamin Rottenborn, stated the proof is evident during the last three weeks of testimony that Heard’s allegations of abuse are truthful.
“We haven’t gotten to placed on our case but,” he stated. “That is all proof that has are available in whereas plaintiff controls the taking part in area.”
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in Fairfax County Circuit Court docket after Heard wrote a December 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Submit describing herself as “a public determine representing home abuse.” The article by no means mentions Depp by title, however Depp’s legal professionals say he was defamed nonetheless as a result of it’s a transparent reference to abuse allegations Heard levied in 2016, within the midst of the couple’s divorce proceedings.
The decide on Tuesday did say she’s reserving judgment on whether or not the article’s headline in on-line editions ought to be a part of the libel lawsuit as a result of she stated the proof is unclear at this level whether or not Heard wrote the headline or is answerable for it. The web headline reads, “I spoke up towards sexual violence — and confronted our tradition’s wrath. That has to alter.”
Hughes can be cross-examined Wednesday, and Heard is predicted to take the stand Wednesday as nicely.
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