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Amber Heard’s lawyers on Friday filed a second document seeking a retrial, claiming that the wrong person served on the jury
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The lawyers said a 77-year-old person was selected for jury service, but a 52-year-old with the same last name and living at the same address served instead
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Heard’s lawyers said her ‘right to a jury trial and due process’ had been ‘undermined and compromised’
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They added: ‘Under these circumstances, a mistrial should be declared, and a new trial ordered’
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They did not say how the error was detected, or give the first names of the two jurors
Her lawyers allege two people with the same last name lived at the home in Virginia where the jury duty summons was sent in April.
The summons was intended for a 77-year-old person, but instead the 52-year-old showed up in court and served on the jury.
‘It is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this,’ they write.
Johnny Depp was on June 1 awarded by the jury $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
Fans of Depp, 59, are pictured on April 25 outside the courtroom in Fairfax, Virginia.
Depp is seen on July 6, on tour with his band in Germany.
The filing notes that Virginia has safeguards in place to prevent these types of mixups, such as using of a seven-digit juror number, zip code, and birthdate to verify jurors’ identities.
‘Those safeguards are in place and relied upon by the parties to verify the identity of the correct juror, to ensure due process and a fair trial for all litigants,’ reads the filing.
‘Under these circumstances, a mistrial should be declared, and a new trial ordered.’
The document did not provide any reason for why this allegedly occurred or say how the situation was uncovered.
Friday’s filing comes after the actress’ legal team on July 1 filed claims that the verdict at trial was not supported by evidence presented during the six-week hearing.
The July 1 outlined the issue of the ‘wrong’ Juror 15, but did not go into as much detail as Friday’s document.
Depp sued his former partner over a 2018 article she wrote for the Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, which his lawyers said falsely accused him of being an abuser.
On June 1 the jury ruled in his favor.
Heard’s lawyers also said last week that the judge should throw out the verdict because the amount awarded to Depp — $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages — was ‘excessive’ and ‘indefensible.’
She was awarded $2 million.
