8h 15min, dec 21, 2020 y - MEDIA COVERAGE 21-24 December 2020 Johnny Depp did not receive a fair trial - his lawyers tell Court of Appeal

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PLEASE NOTE: The Media did not begin to respond to Johnny Depp’s Application to Appeal until 23 December 2020 as the document was not released until that date despite having been filed on 21 December. For clarity and ease of narrative the media reaction is placed alongside the filing.

FROM THE TELEGRAPH:

Johnny Depp 'did not receive a fair trial', his lawyers tell Court of Appeal

The High Court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard is "plainly wrong", Johnny Depp's lawyers tell Court of Appeal

Johnny Depp "did not receive a fair trial" and the High Court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard is "plainly wrong", his lawyers have told the Court of Appeal.

The Hollywood star sued The Sun's publisher for libel after a 2018 column by its executive editor Dan Wootton labelled him a "wife beater".

In November, Mr Justice Nicol dismissed the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor's claim, finding News Group Newspapers (NGN) had proved what was in the article was "substantially true".

But, in documents filed with the Court of Appeal, Mr Depp's lawyers claim Mr Justice Nicol's ruling was "manifestly unsafe" and say they will ask the court to "set aside the judgment and order a new trial".

His legal team claim Mr Justice Nicol "failed to undertake any, or an adequate analysis, of Ms Heard's shifting account, despite the importance of consistency as a consideration of a witness's testimony".

In written submissions to the Court of Appeal, Mr Depp's barrister David Sherborne said Mr Justice Nicol "concluded that the appellant was guilty of serious physical assaults without taking account of or even acknowledging that Ms Heard had been untruthful in her evidence, without testing her account against the documentary evidence and the evidence of other witnesses, and without making any findings that he disbelieved those witnesses".

Mr Sherborne accused Mr Justice Nicol of excluding “relevant evidence from his consideration, ignored or dismissed as irrelevant matters that substantially undermined Ms Heard, made findings unsupported by the evidence, and failed to assess whether her allegations could withstand proper scrutiny.”

Mr Sherborne concluded: "This was a very public judgment, reached by a single judge, making devastating findings of extremely serious criminal offences having been committed, and where this has had wider ranging implications for the public at large, particularly victims, or those wrongly accused, of alleged domestic abuse.”

In his judgment, Mr Justice Nicol concluded that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence relied on by NGN did occur.

The judge found that Mr Depp assaulted Ms Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in "fear for her life".

Mr Depp announced just days after the ruling that he was asked by Warner Brothers to resign from his role in the Harry Potter spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts, the very role which prompted Mr Wootton to ask how JK Rowling could be "genuinely happy" Mr Depp was cast in the film.

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