A Court Stenographer Claims That Jury Members Were Falling Asleep During Johnny Depp And Amber Heard’s Defamation Trial
Johnny Depp’s messy multi-million dollar shit show (formally known as his $50 million defamation trial) came to a close last week, with both Johnny and Amber Heard being found as victims of defamation. Although technically, Johnny walked away a winner, if you believe anyone is a winner in this situation. Since then, we’ve heard a few things relating to the trial that would have the average Law & Order watcher think, “Uh, I don’t know if that’s standard courtroom procedure.” Like the fact that some members of that jury spent a bit of their time snoozing in the jury box, according to the court stenographer present during the trial.
It could be argued that Johnny and Amber’s defamation trial was a six-week disaster for those of us at home (seriously, I could not open YouTube one time without being slapped in the eyes with at least ten stupid-looking videos about Amber getting “Epic’ly owned in court“). But that’s nothing compared to what was allegedly going down in the courtroom in Virginia where the trial was being held. And we all knew this, because the trial was being broadcast to everyone and their dog on the outside, which isn’t exactly something that usually happens.
Because of this, the internet picked up on every clip released from the inside and meme’d the hell out of it. And that was bad news for the jury, because they reportedly weren’t sequestered for all six weeks of the trial. That means that when they hopped on social media at the end of the day, they could read and watch any number of heavily biased articles, videos, think pieces, or jokes relating to the trial. And, I don’t know, maybe all that media they were consuming after the judge dismissed them at the end of the day kept them up too late and made them sleepy-weepy the next morning when they were told to return. Because it sounds like a bunch of them couldn’t keep their eyes open during the trial. It’s like a sequel to 12 Angry Men, titled 12 Naps Needed. via People magazine:
In a clip from a new interview with Law & Crime Network, Judy Bellinger – who served as the court reporter and was called a “rockstar” by Judge Penney Azcarate – said that a “few” of the jurors drifted asleep at points during the trial. The juror’s names will be sealed for at least one year, the judge previously ruled.
“There were a few jurors who were dozing off,” she said, adding that the sleeping jurors were in both the front and back rows. “And it was tough. There were a lot of video deposition, and they would just sit there and all of a sudden I’d see their head drop.”
Judy added that the best juror was one that was actually picked as an alternate, and therefore wouldn’t have affected the outcome of the trial. But that specific juror was allegedly one who listened intently and paid attention, and – shock of all shocks – never once fell asleep. After the verdict was read, it was announced that Johnny had won $10.35 million in damages, while Amber – who counter-sued for defamation – was awarded $2 million. Amber has since stated that she plans to appeal the decision.
As People magazine points out, we won’t know the names of that jury until a year from now, when they might finally be revealed. Until then, we can probably guess who was on the jury. Just go hang out in Virginia and find the person in line at the pharmacy wearing a “I was at the Johnny Depp defamation trial and all I got was this t-shirt” who is asking for over the counter caffeine pills. And I get that court is boring, but that’s kind of the point. If it was exciting and fun, people would be holding raffles for jury duty letters. I just don’t know how anyone let those jurors sleep in court? You would think that at least one person would have said something. “Your honor, if the jury is having trouble staying awake, maybe we can fit them for an earpiece that will tell them wake them up. Johnny, I’m assuming you’d be the guy who could hook them up with such a thing.”
Pic: INSTARimages