CULTURE
11:46 AM PDT 7/4/2020
by
The Associated Press
The actor is suing ‘The Sun’s’ editor, News Group Newspapers and executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article that claims the actor was violent and abusive to the actress.
Johnny Depp’s lawyers couldn’t stop the ex-wife of the American actor, Amber Heard, from attending his defamation trial against the British tabloid newspaper. Sun until they call her to give evidence.
In a court order issued Saturday, Judge Andrew Nicol said that excluding Heard from the London court before he testifies in the case “would inhibit the accused from conducting their defense.”
Depp, 57, is suing SunNews editor News Group Newspapers and executive editor Dan Wootton about a 2018 article that claims the actor was violent and abusive to Heard. He flatly denies the allegations.
Depp’s attorneys asked the judge to bar Heard from attending the trial until the 34-year-old actress and model appears to present evidence, arguing that her testimony would be more reliable if she were not present in court when Depp was questioned. .
The judge noted that it is the News Group and Wootton, and not Heard, who are defending the claim, while acknowledging that they will depend “largely” on what Heard says.
The trial, which was postponed from March due to the coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled to begin Tuesday and last for three weeks.
Other witnesses are likely to include former Depp partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder, who submitted statements supporting pirates of the Caribbean star.
