ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

'Cheers in front of the courtroom': Reaction after Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial verdict

Share

Fans of Johnny Depp gathering outside the Fairfax, Va. courthouse burst into repeated cheers as the verdict in the libel lawsuit between Depp and Amber Heard was read out by the jury.

The jury ruled in favour of Depp and awarded him US$15 million.

To each of the questions on whether Depp's lawyers had proven the elements of defamation, the jury repeatedly responded with a resounding "yes."

"Every time there was a 'yes' and a 'yes' and a 'yes,' when the verdict was read out to each of the different questions that the jury had to answer, there were cheers in front of the courtroom," CTV National News Washington Bureau Chief Joy Malbon said from outside the courthouse on Wednesday afternoon.

The discourse on social media, as well as from fans outside of the courthouse, has been overwhelmingly pro-Depp. Some had been attending the trial every day of the six-week court battle.

"I mean, he was the bigger star. There was a lot of favouritism. A lot of people grew up with Johnny Depp," Malbon said.

Depp had sued his ex-wife Heard for libel over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse." His lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.

Heard also countersued Depp for libel, seeking US$100 million. The jury found that Heard should receive US$2 million, concluding that she was defamed by Depp's lawyer when he called her abuse allegations a hoax.

Over the course of the six-week trial, most of the testimony focused on whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she claimed.

"I'm not sure, even though money was awarded, that any of them wins. Did really did we have to hear this? Did we have to know this kind of toxic relationship that involved drugs and alcohol and allegations of rape and abuse and beatings and violence? And yet here we are," said Malbon.

With files from The Associated Press. 

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.