After weeks of tumultuous testimony and three days of contemplations in the blockbuster calumny case between actors Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard, the jury delivered a divided ruling mainly in favor of Depp on Wednesday. The jury decreed that Depp was maligned by Heard in the 2018 op-ed and granted him more than $10m in the suit.
But the ruling was divided, and they also partly decreed in favor of Heard, who said she was accused by Depp's lawyer when he called her testimonies of domestic abuse a travesty and granted her $2m in damages. And while the jury found that each had accused the other, Depp applauded the ruling as a feat, and Heard declared herself disheartened "beyond words."
Here are some of the critical junctures from the trial, which starred blistering claims and counterclaims of domestic abuse:
1) Mutual mishandling testimonies
Depp indicted Heard for libel over a December 2018 op-ed in which she interpreted herself as "a public figure exemplifying domestic abuse." His attorneys said he was accused of the writing even though it was never mentioned in his name.
While the case was apparently about libel, most of the allegations were directed at whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she alleged.
Heard narrated more than a dozen contended attacks. Depp asserted that he never whacked Heard or any other woman. He said she was the one who became nasty and "bullied" him with "demeaning name-calling."
"It could start up with a slap; it could proceed with a shove; it could begin tossing a T.V. remote at my head, thrashing a glass of wine in my face," Depp said.
The pair submitted differing reports of an early 2015 disagreement in Australia, where Depp was filming a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean picture.
2) The chopped fingertip
Hours of an allegation during the six-week trial were dedicated to a dreadful incident in March 2015 in Australia, where Depp was filming the fifth part of Pirates of the Caribbean.
The pointer of Depp's right-hand middle finger was slashed during a heated argument with Heard at their leased home.
Depp said it happened when Heard flung a vodka bottle at him. Heard said she did not know how it occurred, but it may have been when he broke a wall-mounted phone. Reciting through sobs, she also confided to the jury that Depp sexually attacked her with a bottle. "I was frightened," she said. "I had just wedded him."
3 The observers
Both sides illustrated multiple onlookers, although a rumored statement by billionaire Elon Musk, Heard's ex-boyfriend, and her co-star James Franco eventually did not materialize.
But there were star arrivals. Kate Moss, Depp's past girlfriend, shot down a longstanding rumor he had once heaved the British model down a flight of treads. Moss asserted by video link that it never occurred.
Actress Ellen Barkin, another ex-girlfriend, confirmed Depp was envious, controlling, and drunk "a lot of the time" and once hurled a wine bottle in a hotel room.
Other observers included escorts, agents, business supervisors, specialists, friends, families, and even the former doorman of the extravagant penthouse network where the duo once resided in Los Angeles.
The rulings brought a verge to a televised case that Depp strived would help rebuild his prestige. Throughout the case, fans — overwhelmingly on Depp's side — rounded up overnight for coveted courtroom rears. Observers who could not get in assembled on the street to applaud Depp and catcall Heard whenever they came up outside.
Heard said the ruling disheartened her.
"I'm even more dissatisfied with what this ruling means for other women. It's a misfortune. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women should be taken seriously," she announced in a message posted on her Twitter account.
In his ultimate testimony to the jury, Depp said the prosecution allowed him to clean his name in a way that the U.K. prosecution never had.
"No matter what occurs, I did get here, and I did confide the fact, and I have piped up for what I've been holding up on my back, reluctantly, for six years," Depp confessed.