Depp lawyer: Claims jurors 'tainted' by trial publicity 'baseless'

Johnny Depp's lawyer says claims by Amber Heard's representatives that jurors had been "tainted" by the case's publicity when reaching their verdicts in the case are "baseless."

Benjamin Chew, who was part of the actor's legal team, said aspersions cast on juror integrity by Heard's lawyer Elaine Bredehoft in a recent interview were "really disappointing" to hear.

Bredehoft made the remarks during an interview with US news programme Today shortly after verdicts were returned in the multi-million dollar defamation case.

Depp sued his former partner over 2018 op-ed written in the Washington Post, which his lawyers said falsely accused him of being physically and sexually violent towards her.

Discussing Bredehoft's claims during the interview Chew told Law &Crime Network: "I was really disappointed to hear that because she's a very good lawyer, very experienced.

"It seemed to cast aspersions on the jurors' integrity because, as you know, they took an oath not to watch social media and there's no reason to believe that they did.

"So to hear such a baseless claim was disappointing."

During her interview, Bredehoft also told Today there were "a number of evidentiary issues," which Chew said was "absurd."

"There are rules of evidence and both sides had evidence that were excluded for proper evidentiary reasons," he said.

Heard will "absolutely" be appealing the verdict and has "excellent grounds" to do so, Bredehoft has said.