Jurors deliberate after lawyers give closing arguments in Depp-Heard defamation trial

Lawyers for Hollywood actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have given their closing arguments in the much-watched defamation trial, with each side accusing the other of abuse.
For six weeks, private details of the celebrity marriage have been aired to the world during proceedings in Fairfax County Circuit Court, Virginia.
It will fall to the seven members of the jury panel, which has begun its deliberations, to come to a unanimous decision.
Depp is suing his ex-wife for $US50million ($69 million) for defamation over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as âa public figure representing domestic abuseâ, while Heard is counter-suing for $US100 million ($140 million).

Johnny Depp and his lawyer Camille Vasquez after her closing argument. Photo: Getty
In their final remarks to the court, Deppâs lawyers asked jurors to âhold Ms Heard accountable for her âlies'â.
Deppâs lawyer Camille Vasquez said Heardâs allegations were âwild, over-the-top and implausibleâ and accused the actress of giving a performance in the courtroom.
âYou saw it, Ms Heard sobbing without tears while spinning elaborate exaggerated fantastical accounts of abuse. It was a performance,â said Ms Vasquez.
âThere is an abuser in this courtroom, but it is not Mr Depp.
âMr Depp experienced persistent verbal, physical and emotional abuse by Ms Heard.â
One of Heardâs lawyers, Benjamin Rottenborn, said the past six weeks had offered a âwindow into the heart and mind of Americaâs favourite pirateâ â a bully and abuser.
âThis is the real Johnny Depp,â he said.
âWe ask, ladies and gentleman, that you hold Mr Depp accountable for his actions.
âStand up for victims of domestic abuse everywhere who are suffering in silence. Stand up for freedom of speech.â
Mr Rottenborn said Depp had vowed to bring âglobal humiliationâ to his ex-wife and she had suffered many lost opportunities.
âGive Amber Heard her voice backâŚgive Amber Heard her life back.â
Earlier when taking to the stand on Thursday, Heard told jurors that a harassment campaign waged against her by Depp had left her humiliated and scared for her life from multiple death threats.
âThe harassment and the humiliation, the campaign against me thatâs echoed every single day on social media, and now in front of cameras in the showroom â every single day I have to relive the trauma,â Heard said as she fought back tears.
âPerhaps itâs easy to forget Iâm a human being.â
Heard said she hoped the lawsuit would allow her to regain her voice, and said she had the âright as an Americanâ to publish an article that described her experiences and how they related to the national debate over domestic violence.
âJohnny has taken enough of my voice,â she said.
âI have the right to tell my story.â
Depp has denied he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship.
Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Deppâs hands.

Actor Amber Heard hugs lawyer Elaine Bredehoft as the jury retires. Photo: Getty
The final witness on Thursday morning for Deppâs side was a hand surgeon, Richard Gilbert, who said he thinks the injury that occurred to Deppâs middle finger could have occurred as Depp describes it.
The tip of the finger was severed during a fight the couple had in Australia.
Depp says it occurred when Heard threw a large vodka bottle at him.
Heard says Depp did it to himself in a drug-fuelled rage on a night when he also sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.
-with AAP
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