Why is the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial on a break?

Scheduling conflict leads to pause in proceedings midway through Heard testimony

The defamation trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard is taking a 10-day break from testimony.

Having begun on 11 April in Fairfax, Virginia following Mr Depp’s lawsuit against his ex-wife in March 2019, the trial is will resume on 16 May at 9am.

Judge Penney Azcarate informed both sides and the jury at the start of the trial that she had a scheduling conflict due to a conference this week.

Proceedings have been kept particularly punctual by Judge Azcarate, a former active-duty US marine, and graduate of Old Dominion University and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.

Up until now, the proceedings have begun at 10am each day with a 15-minute break in the morning and a lunch lasting between one and two hours.

Following another 15-minute break in the afternoon, the trial usually adjourns for the day at around 5pm.

Jury trials in Virginia run Monday through Thursday, though an exception is being made by Judge Azcarate for closing arguments which are scheduled for Friday 27 May.

When the trial resumes on 16 May, court proceedings will begin one hour earlier at 9am each day.

Mr Depp is arguing that Ms Heard defamed him in a December 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post titled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change”.

His lawyers have rested their case following three and a half weeks of testimony and video deposition from employees, friends, and other witnesses, as well as the actor himself.

Defence testimony began on 4 May with a psychologist countering previous allegations regarding Heard’s mental health, before she took the stand herself.

Given the break in the trial has come midway through her testimony, it is thought that the circumstances could favour her. Jury consultant Richard Gabriel told NBC News: “What we hear last really does stick with us,” adding that jurors will now sit for more than a week having listened to Ms Heard’s account of the alleged abuse by Mr Depp.

After her testimony concludes, Ms Heard will likely face an aggressive cross-examination by Mr Depp’s legal team, given the huge differences in their accounts of the troubled relationship.

In her 2018 op-ed that the trial is focused on, Ms Heard said that “like many women, I had been harassed and sexually assaulted by the time I was of college-age. But I kept quiet — I did not expect filing complaints to bring justice. And I didn’t see myself as a victim”.

“Then two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out,” she wrote.

While Mr Depp isn’t named in the piece, his legal team argues that it contains a “clear implication that Depp is a domestic abuser”, which they say is “categorically and demonstrably false”. Mr Depp is seeking damages of “not less than $50m”.

Ms Heard is countersuing Mr Depp for $100m in damages and immunity against his claims.

Judge Azcarate was an assistant Commonwealth Attorney for five years before entering private practice. In 2008, she was elected by the General Assembly to serve on the General District Court Bench where she became the first female chief judge. In 2015, Judge Azcarate was elevated to the Fairfax County Circuit Court for her current term, which expires in June 2023.