4 h, feb 13, 2022 y - MEDIA COVERAGE 13 -17 February 2022 Johnny Depp has hired famed attorney Kathleen Zellner in Amber Heard battle

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Johnny Depp hires famed attorney Kathleen Zellner in Amber Heard battle

By Emily Smith

Johnny Depp has armed himself with a major weapon in his epic legal battle against ex-wife Amber Heard.

Prominent “Making A Murderer” attorney Kathleen Zellner, who has famously worked to overturn wrongful convictions, has joined Depp’s legal team.

The move comes after the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star lost his sensational libel suit in London against a newspaper columnist who labeled him a “wife-beater.” In March, Depp was refused permission to appeal against the ruling.

But Depp is also still suing Heard in the US, over a newspaper article in which she described being a victim of domestic abuse.

Zellner has confirmed she has joined Depp’s legal team for his US battle against Heard, and exclusively told Page Six in a statement, “I have spent the last 30 plus years defending individuals who have been falsely accused of wrongdoing.

“I welcome adding Johnny Depp to that list and joining his dream team who share this view and have so effectively been advocating for him.”

Zellner joins Depp’s team – which includes Adam Waldman and Benjamin Chew – as the actor wages a $50 million libel suit against Heard in the United States.

Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 35, in Virginia over a 2019 op-ed in the Washington Post by the “Aquaman” actress, in which she wrote about being a victim of domestic violence — but which he believes was a libelous attack on him.

While she never mentioned Depp’s name in the article, he insists it was about him because Heard had previously alleged that she suffered two black eyes, a broken nose and a broken lip at his hands during a 2015 attack in Los Angeles. Depp denies abusing or assaulting Heard.

In the latest salvo in the case, the court has given Depp access to Heard’s phone, which he hopes will prove she faked injuries he allegedly gave her. His lawyers claim she doctored photos purporting to show her with black eyes, which she says she suffered at the hands of the actor. Heard maintains the photos are authentic.

Notable clients Zellner has represented include Steven Avery, who was the subject of the 2015 and 2018 Netflix series “Making a Murderer”.

Avery spent 18 years of a 32-year sentence in prison before he was exonerated by DNA testing and released in 2003, only to be charged with a different murder two years later.

His 2007 trial for the murder of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach, which was the subject of the Netflix series, ended in him being convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Avery and Zellner are still working to overturn that conviction.

Zellner also represented Kevin Fox, who was falsely accused of murdering his daughter Riley, and exonerated by DNA evidence she sent to a private lab with more sophisticated technology. She also won a $15.5 million verdict for the violation of Fox’s civil rights in 2007.

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