Former LA lawyer says Johnny Depp may win trial due to Amber Heard’s past tweet

A former LA lawyer has predicted the verdict of the defamation battle between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp — pointing out one tiny detail that may sway the jury.

As the world waits for the jury in the high profile Amber Heard and Johnny Depp defamation trial to deliberate, a former LA lawyer has given her two cents as to the outcome of both parties’ arguments.

The ongoing multimillion-dollar defamation trial involving the two actors came to a close after six weeks on Friday local time, after bringing a media frenzy and intense public scrutiny of the couple, their careers and failed marriage before their bitter divorce.

Depp first filed a suit against Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.

Heard did not name Depp in the piece, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and is seeking US$50 million ($A67m) in damages.

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Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016. Picture: Getty Images.

Heard countersued for US$100 million ($A139m), claiming she suffered “rampant physical violence and abuse.”

Now, the case is in the hands of jurors.

Former LA District Attorney and legal analyst Emily D. Baker, who has been providing YouTube commentary on the widely-followed trial, admitted she was at first convinced neither Depp or Heard would win the case during an interview on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast recently.

However, she has changed her tune after one key detail in Amber Heard’s testimony, leading her to believe Depp may win the case.

When she took the stand earlier this month, Aquaman actress Heard confirmed she retweeted the Washington Post opinion piece she authored in 2018, which included the headline Depp claims is defamatory.

Emily D Baker has been a lawyer in LA for nearly 17 years. Picture: YouTube.

According to Baker, this is the detail that gives Depp’s legal team an advantage.

“The headline is ‘Opinion Amber Heard: “I spoke up about sexual violence and faced our culture’s wrath. This has to change,” Baker explained.

“Her team has been arguing that she didn’t write the headline. Depp’s team is arguing even if she didn’t write the headline, she retweeted it and said ‘Today I published this op ed in the Washington Post about the women who are channelling their rage about violence and inequity into political strength despite the price of coming forward’.”

Baker went on to call the tweet the “strongest” part of Heard’s testimony for Depp’s team.

“So it has the headline in it and she’s saying ‘I published this op ed’. So I think the tweet is their strongest case right now because she’s saying ‘I wrote this’ and she’s saying ‘I wrote this including the headline’.

“And if they find that those allegations are not real or that they don’t believe them or that they can’t get there to believe in them enough to say it’s not defamatory, then those are the strongest counts for him.”

Baker’s views on closing statements

Speaking on her YouTube channel, Baker explained why she didn’t think there was a “path to victory” for either party at the beginning of the trial, but surmised that a win for Depp would be plausible because of the tweet, calling it “the clearest path” to a win.

“The law and the op ed were not working for me well. And I was like ‘This is going to be very, very hard’,” she said.

According to Baker, Amber Heard’s tweet containing the article headline will be the detail that sways the jury. Picture: Getty Images.

She says Johnny Depp will likely win the trial. Picture: AFP.

“After seeing six weeks of this trial, I understand why they chose to take this to trial and I see that Johnny Depp has a potential to win.

“And that is a huge win, I think, for them because that wasn’t where I was at at the beginning of this case.

“So my verdict is if there’s a win, it’s that. I still think this jury could go with nobody wins, I still think this jury could hang. I never put that aside. I also don’t like betting on verdicts, I didn’t do that with my own verdicts.”

Both parties could still lose

Baker went on to say she could see both parties losing on the defamation claims, but not one party winning overall.

“The jury can find no-one is liable, no-one defamed no-one, no-one defamed anyone, no defamation at all. Everyone loses,” she explained.

“The jury could find that one side wins. I do not see a path to both sides winning on defamation. If you believe that Amber Heard didn’t defame Johnny Depp then you can get to them calling her a hoaxer is in fact defamatory.

“If you think she didn’t defame Johnny Depp or if you think that she did defame Johnny Depp then calling her a hoaxer or a liar is not necessarily going to be defamation in your eyes.

“I don’t think both can win, I think both can lose,” she concluded.

Johnny Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez. Picture: AFP.

Amber Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft. Picture: AFP.

Baker also explained the likelihood of a hung jury.

“This jury can hang … If there are a few, one or two whatever on the jury, that believe vehemently one side or the other.

“If you believe Amber Heard lied about Johnny Depp, are you ever going to say ‘No, Amber Heard didn’t defame Johnny Depp.’ And if you believe Johnny Depp perpetrated horrific abuse on Amber Heard are you ever going to say ‘No, she defamed Johnny Depp.’ And that’s where you end up with a potential for a hung jury.

“The potential for a hung jury is that if you believe one side strongly, nothing is going to sway you.”