Falls Church, Virginia –
A manual surgeon testified Monday that Johnny Depp could not lose the tip of his middle finger, as he told jurors that it happened in his civil case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
The finger injury, which occurred during the March 2015 battle in Australia between Depp and Hurd, is one of several key points of contention in the lawsuit. Depp says he was injured when Hurd threw a bottle of vodka at him. Hurd said she never saw exactly how it happened, but that it happened one night when an enraged Depp sexually assaulted her with a bottle of alcohol.
Depp is suing Hurd for defamation in Fairfax County Court for a December 2018 post she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as a “public figure representing domestic violence.” His lawyers say he was slandered by the article, although his name is never mentioned.
Depp denies hitting Hurd and says she was the bully in the relationship. Hurd has testified to more than a dozen individual cases of physical violence she says she suffered at the hands of Depp.
In his testimony Monday, surgeon Richard Moore testified about the severed finger as jurors saw horrific photos of the injury. He said Depp described that his palm was down on the bar when it was hit by the bottle.
Moore, who did not treat Depp, testified that Depp’s description was unlikely, largely because his fingernail remained intact. Moore said the nail was bare, as Depp described the location of his hand, and would be damaged. Moore also said there were other cuts to the rest of his arm from the glass, which broke on impact.
While Depp told the jury that Hurd cut off his finger by throwing a bottle of vodka, he told people during the incident and sent text messages saying he had done it to himself. At one point he said the finger was sandwiched between solid doors with an accordion.
Now Depp says he lied to protect Hurd. Moore testified that pinching his finger on the accordion’s doors would be consistent with the injury.
The trial is in the sixth week. Monday’s testimony was relatively simple in a trial that gave an ugly look at the couple’s toxic relationship. Hurd’s lawyers were expected to call Depp on Monday, but that didn’t happen. Hurd’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, said at the end of the day on Monday that they were still discussing whether to call him.
The jurors had already heard in detail from both Depp and Hurd, each in a statement for four days of grueling cross-examination.
Also Monday, a psychiatrist testified that Depp’s behavior was in line with the model of a man whose drug and alcohol abuse contributes to domestic violence.
Depp’s lawyer, Wayne Denison, questioned the ethics and credibility of the psychiatrist’s opinion, given that he had never examined Depp.
Later Monday, Denison questioned another of Hurd’s witnesses, entertainment expert Catherine Arnold, about her claim that Hurd lost a potential $ 40 million to $ 50 million when another of Depp’s lawyers called Hurd’s allegations of abuse “fraud.” Hurd filed a counterclaim against Depp based on these statements.
Arnold said she measured Hurd’s career with “comparable” stars such as Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Zendaya to show where Hurd’s career would have gone if Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, had not slandered her.
Denison, in his interrogation, scoffs at the idea that Hurd is in the same league as these stars. He also dismissed Hurd’s role as Mera in the Aquaman superhero film franchise, saying the upcoming sequel to Aquaman was more of a “friendly comedy” than a film that would feature Hurd as a romantic star.
Hurd “was on the brink of a great career,” Arnold insisted.
The process has attracted increasing public attention due to its length. People camped overnight and fought for seats in the queue as they tried to get one of the 100 seats in the courtroom allocated to the public. During the morning break, a woman confessed her love for Depp and asked when he would admit to being the father of the baby she was holding.
She was removed from the courtroom.
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