The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor is keen to look at his former wife's phone to see if the photos of her with two black eyes following domestic violence allegations were tampered with.
- November 6, 2021
AceShowbiz - Johnny Depp has been granted access to his ex-wife Amber Heard's phone in his libel lawsuit against her.
The actor first filed his suit against the "Aquaman" star back in 2018 after she published an op-ed in the Washington Post about surviving domestic abuse.
Although Amber didn't name Johnny in the piece, she has accused him of domestic violence since their split.
While she petitioned to have the case dismissed after Johnny lost his U.K. libel suit against The Sun newspaper, a Virginia judge allowed the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor to continue with his lawsuit.
As part of the legal battle, Depp requested access to Heard's phone records in a bid to prove that she faked injuries she allegedly claimed were from him.
Photographs which appeared to show Heard with two black eyes were circulated around the world in 2015, and have been used "repeatedly" by the actress' counsel during deposition, Depp's lawyer Benjamin Chew claimed in his filing to the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Victoria.
Chew continued to claim that when the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) responded to Heard's abuse claim, "they found no injury upon Ms. Heard and no disruption to the penthouses."
"Ms. Heard and her friends then fabricated photos that she used to obtain an ex parte TRO (temporary restraining order) and a $7 million (£5.2 million) divorce settlement which Ms. Heard falsely testified in London she gave to the ACLU and, more scandalously, to the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles; sick children with cancer," he alleged, before claiming that the LAPD "disavowed the photographs" and "said they did not depict what they saw."
While Depp's legal team had been given earlier images from Heard, Chew argued that they came without their accompanying metadata - meaning their expert Brian Neumeister couldn't verify the details.
Therefore, the Virginia court ruled on Wednesday (03Nov21) that Depp's team will be able to employ an expert to look at Heard's phone to see if they can find any evidence that the photos were tampered with.
The judge also denied Heard's team's request for Depp to hand over his phone and laptop, insisting that the lawyers had asked for "too broad" a search.
Responding to the new ruling, Heard's attorney told the New York Post's Page Six that the actress "welcomes the opportunity to present her evidence in a trial by jury, in a court of law" next year.
