After Johnny Depp collected a big win in his defamation case against Amber Heard, Making a Murderer’s Kathleen Zellner weighed in. And she thinks the verdict came down to “a contest of credibility,” which she feels Heard inevitably lost because it was something she lacked in her case.
What does Zellner think the outcome means for Depp? And what didn’t she believe in Heard’s case? Read on to find out.
Kathleen Zellner believed in Johnny Depp’s innocence over Amber Heard’s claims of abuse
Zellner is notable as Stephen Avery’s attorney introduced in the second season of Making a Murderer. And she feels the verdict in the Depp v. Heard defamation trial was vindicating for the Edward Scissorhands actor. In an interview with Law & Crime network, she called it a “great victory.”
Notably, Zellner stepped into the case at Depp’s request, but she wasn’t part of his team at trial. She had a first-degree murder case that took priority, but she led some depositions for his side. Publicly, she’s been very candid about her belief that he is innocent of the horrific claims Heard made against him regarding abuse.
Kathleen Zellner thinks Amber Heard’s case lacked credibility
Zellner said in that same interview that she thinks the case came down to “a contest of credibility” between the two actors. She also noted that Depp had a well-prepared, “wonderful trial team,” including standout attorney Camille Vasquez. “They performed even above expectation,” she shared. “They were just outstanding.”
On the other hand, there were a few reasons she didn’t find Heard’s case credible. Looking at her evidence and testimony as a criminal attorney, Zellner said: “It failed.”
First, she said the forensic evidence presented didn’t back up her claims. “Forget about not having witnesses,” she said. “I can understand that abuse victims don’t have first-hand knowledge witnesses present.”
Zellner cited 30 years of experience before saying Heard didn’t show what she was claiming to show in the evidence.
Her second point was that Heard didn’t seem afraid of Depp after what she described on the stand, which is not common in her experience. She noted how the Aquaman actor seemed to taunt her ex-husband on recordings of their arguments and confessed to starting physical fights.
“She just was not credible,” Zellner concluded. “That’s why she lost.”
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Johnny Depp called Kathleen Zellner about his case against Amber Heard because of ‘Making a Murderer’ season 2
According to Zellner, Depp reached out to her by calling and leaving her a voicemail at her office. She said he wanted to talk about the case and specifically pointed to something she said in the second season of Making a Murderer that made him want to reach out.
Depp told her he remembered her saying she’d be the last person to hire for someone guilty of a crime because she would find out. She said she was very “struck” by that being what motivated him to contact her.
When asked if Depp was being himself on the stand, she said he was. “That’s not an act,” she concluded of his testimony.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
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