A jury has dominated in favour of Johnny Depp in his libel lawsuit in opposition to ex-wife Amber Heard, vindicating his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp earlier than and through their transient marriage.
But it surely has additionally dominated partly in Heard's favour on a few of her claims in opposition to her ex-husband.
The jury awarded $US15 million ($20.88 million) be paid to Depp, consisting of $US10 million ($13.94 million) for compensatory damages and $US5 million ($6.97 million) for punitive damages.
Nonetheless, state regulation in Virginia caps punitive damages at $US350,000 ($487,795), that means Depp was finally awarded a complete sum of $US10.35 million ($14.42 million).
The jury additionally discovered $US2 million ($2.78 million) needs to be paid to Heard on account of a number of rulings in opposition to every of them.
The verdicts, delivered about 5.20am on Thursday AEST, convey an finish to a televised trial that Depp had hoped would assist restore his fame, although it became a spectacle of a vicious marriage.
Heard issued an announcement after the decision, saying she was "heartbroken", and blamed the "disproportionate energy, affect and sway of (her) ex-husband" for the consequence.
"It units again the clock to a time when a lady who spoke up and spoke out may very well be publicly shamed and humiliated. It units again the concept violence in opposition to girls is to be taken significantly," she wrote.
"I consider Johnny's attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to miss the important thing challenge of Freedom of Speech and ignore proof that was so conclusive that we received within the UK.
"I am unhappy I misplaced this case. However I'm sadder nonetheless that I appear to have misplaced a proper I assumed I had as an American - to talk freely and brazenly."
Depp thanked the jury and his supporters in his personal assertion.
"Six years in the past, my life, the lifetime of my kids, the lives of these closest to me, and likewise, the lives of the individuals who for a lot of, a few years have supported and believed in me have been without end modified," he mentioned.
"All within the blink of a watch. False, very severe and legal allegations have been levied at me by way of the media, which triggered an countless barrage of hateful content material, though no fees have been ever introduced in opposition to me.
"It had already travelled around the globe twice inside a nanosecond and it had a seismic affect on my life and my profession. And 6 years later, the jury gave me my life again. I'm actually humbled."
He mentioned his purpose within the trial had been to "reveal the reality" and he now felt "at peace".
Followers — overwhelmingly on Depp's facet — lined up in a single day to seize a seat within the courtroom.
Spectators who could not get in lined up on the road to cheer Depp and jeer Heard at any time when both appeared outdoors.
Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court docket over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Submit describing herself as "a public determine representing home abuse".
His legal professionals mentioned he was defamed by the article despite the fact that it by no means talked about his identify.
Whereas the case was ostensibly about libel, a lot of the testimony centered on whether or not Heard had been bodily and sexually abused, as she claimed.
Heard enumerated greater than a dozen alleged assaults, together with a struggle in Australia — the place Depp was capturing a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel — by which Depp misplaced the tip of his center finger and Heard mentioned she was sexually assaulted with a liquor bottle.
Depp mentioned he by no means hit Heard and was by no means uncontrolled when consuming, although Heard's attorneys highlighted textual content messages Depp despatched to associates recounting the copious quantity of alcohol and medicines he had taken at the moment.
Her attorneys additionally confirmed that Depp despatched texts apologising to Heard for his behaviour and wrote profane messages to a good friend by which Depp mentioned he wished to kill Heard and defile her useless physique.
In some methods, the trial was a replay of a lawsuit Depp filed in the UK in opposition to a British tabloid after he was described as a "spouse beater".
The choose in that case dominated within the newspaper's favour after discovering that Heard was telling the reality in her descriptions of abuse.
Within the Virginia case, Depp needed to show not solely that he by no means assaulted Heard, however that Heard's article — which centered totally on public coverage associated to home violence — defamed him.
He additionally needed to show that Heard wrote the article with precise malice.
And to say damages he needed to show that her article triggered the harm to his fame versus any variety of articles earlier than and after Heard's piece that detailed the allegations in opposition to him.
Depp, in his last testimony to the jury, mentioned the trial gave him an opportunity to clear his identify in a approach that he the UK trial by no means allowed.
"It doesn't matter what occurs, I did get right here and I did inform the reality and I've spoken up for what I have been carrying on my again, reluctantly, for six years," Depp mentioned.
Heard, however, mentioned the trial has been an ordeal inflicted by an orchestrated smear marketing campaign led by Depp.
"Johnny promised me — promised me — that he'd spoil my life, that he'd spoil my profession. He'd take my life from me," Heard mentioned in her last testimony.
The case captivated hundreds of thousands by its gavel-to-gave tv protection and impassioned followers on social media who dissected every little thing from the actors' mannerisms to the attainable symbolism of what they have been carrying.
Each performers emerge from the trial with reputations in tatters with unclear prospects for his or her careers.
Eric Rose, a disaster administration and communications skilled in Los Angeles, referred to as the trial a "traditional murder-suicide".
"From a fame administration perspective, there will be no winners," he mentioned.
"They've bloodied one another up.
"It turns into harder now for studios to rent both actor since you're doubtlessly alienating a big section of your viewers who might not like the truth that you've got retained both Johnny or Amber for a selected mission as a result of emotions are so robust now."
Depp, a three-time greatest actor Oscar nominee, had till latest years been a bankable star.
His flip as Captain Jack Sparrow within the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie helped flip it into a world franchise, however he is misplaced that function. (Heard and Depp's groups every blame the opposite.)
He was additionally changed because the title character within the third Unbelievable Beasts spin-off movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Regardless of testimony on the trial that he may very well be violent, abusive and uncontrolled, Depp obtained a standing ovation Tuesday evening in London after performing for about 40 minutes with Jeff Beck on the Royal Albert Corridor.
He has beforehand toured with Joe Perry and Alice Cooper because the group Hollywood Vampires.
Heard's performing profession has been extra modest, and her solely two upcoming roles are in a small movie and the upcoming Aquaman sequel due out subsequent yr.
Depp's legal professionals fought to maintain the case in Virginia, partly as a result of state regulation supplied some authorized benefits in contrast with California, the place the 2 reside.
A choose dominated that Virginia was a suitable discussion board for the case as a result of The Washington Submit's printing presses and on-line servers are within the county.