Johnny Depp's attorneys ask judge to deny Amber Heard's request for a mistrial
CBSN
Johnny Depp pushed back against Amber Heard's request that the judge who presided over their dual defamation case declare a mistrial, regardless of whether her recent allegations of juror discrepancy are accurate or not.
The actor's legal team filed new documents in Virginia court this week that formally objected to a motion submitted Friday by attorneys representing his ex-wife, which called for the trial verdict to be tossed out based on claims that one person who sat on the jury was not actually selected to participate. Heard's lawyers said public information revealed that the juror, whose name was redacted from the filing, shared the same last name and residential address as the person chosen but was born nearly three decades later.
Acknowledging standard procedures in place in Fairfax County to ensure the individuals summoned for jury duty are the ones who show up, Heard's team argued that any alleged failure to correctly perform identity checks "undermined and compromised" her due process rights. It was unclear how Heard's attorneys discovered the alleged error and how the court could have missed it.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.