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There’s no Amber Heard prison sentence as a result of this trial

By WiC Staff

FAIRFAX, VA - MAY 5: (NY & NJ NEWSPAPERS OUT) Amber Heard departs outside court during the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard civil trial at Fairfax County Circuit Court on May 5, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia. Depp is seeking $50 million in alleged damages to his career over an op-ed Heard wrote in the Washington Post in 2018.(Photo by Cliff Owen/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)
FAIRFAX, VA - MAY 5: (NY & NJ NEWSPAPERS OUT) Amber Heard departs outside court during the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard civil trial at Fairfax County Circuit Court on May 5, 2022 in Fairfax, Virginia. Depp is seeking $50 million in alleged damages to his career over an op-ed Heard wrote in the Washington Post in 2018.(Photo by Cliff Owen/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images) /
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If you’re just now hearing about the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, here’s a quick rundown: Heard divorced Depp in 2016, along with getting a restraining order against him. In 2018, she wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post where she talked about her experience with domestic violence. She didn’t mention Depp by name, but he sued her for defamation, basically claiming that the intimation that he was domestically violent towards her was both: 1) untrue, and; 2) hurt his career.

That trial is going on now. Depp is asking for $50 million in damages. Heard has countersued for $100 million, claiming that Depp’s camp denying her intimations about Depp’s behavior is: 1) dishonest, and; 2) hurt her career.

Public opinion is very much on Depp’s side, to the point where some people are talking about whether Heard could go to jail. But she won’t. Neither will he; it’s not that kind of trial.

There is no Amber Heard prison confirmed

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of trials in the American legal system: criminal and civil. A criminal trial is brought by the state against someone who has broken the law, say a thief or a murderer. Those kinds of trials result in verdicts of “guilty” or “not guilty” and can result in jail time.

Johnny Depp’s defamation suit against Heard, as well as her countersuit against him, are not criminal proceedings. They are civil proceedings. A person can bring a civil suit against someone for pretty much any reason, from a broken contract to, say, one person saying something bad about the other in print. Civil trials do not result in jail time, nor are there findings of “guilty” or “not guilty.” The jury will decide if one party is liable. If so, the remedy is usually that cash changes hands.

We won’t know how this trial turns out for a minute. Closing arguments are set to happen on May 27. After that, the jurors will sit down to deliberate and come to a decision. They might take an hour, they might take weeks; we won’t know until we know.

Next. Take the Black: Obsessing over every detail of the House of the Dragon trailer. dark

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