The judge who presided over the Johnny Depp For New Trial

The judge who presided over the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial has denied Heard’s legal team’s motion for a mistrial in the case. Amber Heard’s recent attempt to get a new trial in her case against Johnny Depp has been denied. Heard filed a motion for a mistrial to be declared and a new trial ordered on the grounds that one of the jurors was not the person who was actually summoned during the trial. The actress lost the defamation case against her, filed by Depp in 2019 after she wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post, which alluded to her former spouse being a domestic abuser and allegedly cost him roles in high-profile projects like Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Johnny Depp’s Pirates Of The Caribbean Ending Is Already Perfect. Whilst Johnny Depp’s final outing as Jack Sparrow was lacklustre, the final moments of Dead Men Tell No Tales gives him a perfect ending. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales gave Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow the perfect ending after 14 years of Pirate adventures negating the need for Pirates 6 to wrap up his arc. Since 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean has been a major part of pop culture, with Johnny Depp’s wacky and whimsical Jack Sparrow being the main reason behind the franchise’s success. As time has gone on, the quality of the Pirates films has declined, sinking to an all-time low with 2017’s, Dead Men Tell No Tales, which earned Johnny Depp a Razzie nomination, and failed to reach the box Office numbers of its predecessor: Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. However, despite this apparent failure, Dead Men Tell No Tales actually provided the ideal send-off for one of modern Hollywood’s most recognizable characters.

Dead Men Tell No Tales sees Captain Jack Sparrow face off against Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), who has escaped the “Devil’s Triangle” and is coming for revenge after Jack defeated him long ago. Jack Sparrow largely takes a back seat in favor of new cast members Brenton Thwaites and Kay Scodelario (Henry Turner and Carina Smith respectively) as they try to find the trident of Poseidon which can break all curses, including the one linking William Turner to the Flying Dutchman. While most of the characters behaved fairly predictably (with Geoffrey Rush’s Barbossa proving particularly popular), Jack Sparrow’s characterization seemed off throughout the film – overly drunk, never coming up with any schemes and frequently escaping through luck rather than wits. Given this, and despite the film ending on a high note for everyone else, it’s hard to see Jack’s ending as satisfactory. Yet, it is.

Depp and Heard met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2009 and began dating in late 2011 before marrying in 2015. Heard filed for divorce in 2016 with a $7 million settlement reached out of court and a non-disparagement clause put into the document, prohibiting either party from saying anything negative about the relationship. In 2018, Heard wrote the op-ed that sparked the court battle, which prompted The Sun tabloid to run a story calling Depp a “wife beater.” Depp sued The Sun for libel, but lost the case. The actor then sued Heard for defamation, leading to the 2022 trial that saw him emerge the victor. Heard was ordered to pay Depp $10.35 million in damages, while Depp was ordered to pay Heard $2 million in damages for her countersuit. Heard’s legal team filed the motion to have the case declared a mistrial with a new trial requested, due to a juror mishap over a mixed-up last name, despite the individual being vetted by the court and the legal teams of both parties. Judge Penney Azcarate, the Fairfax Country judge who presided over the 6-week-long trial, denied all of Heard’s motions (via Deadline), stating that “There is no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing.” Both Heard and Depp’s legal teams were given the jury list five days prior to the trial start date and had every opportunity to object prior to or during the trial, but did not.

Judge Azcarate also stated that “a party cannot wait until receiving an adverse verdict to object, for the first time, on an issue known since the beginning of the trial. The issue has been waived.” Despite the denial of a mistrial, Heard’s legal team can still appeal the verdict, which they have previously said they would, calling the ruling “excessive” and “indefensible.” Both Heard and Depp issued statements after the verdict, with Heard saying it was a “setback” for other women who have suffered domestic abuse. Depp said that he was “humbled” by the jury’s ruling, which gave him his life back.

Heard’s legal team is sure to file an appeal for the verdict, it’s questionable if it will have any kind of effect one way or another in the public’s eye. If anything, it could possibly get Heard out of paying the full amount to Depp she now owes, but it’s unlikely to sway public opinion over the case unless there’s new evidence to strengthen her case. After two trials, however, it seems like a third would be doubtful, especially after so much evidence has already been gathered for both trials already. In the meantime, Depp is preparing to get back to acting with the period film Jeanne du Barry, while Heard may (or may not) appear again as Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom next year.

Since the beginning of the series, Jack Sparrow has been an enigma. His wants, needs, and motivations are something the audience and the characters around him can only guess at, except when it comes to one thing – The Black Pearl. While Jack and The Black Pearl’s origins are complicated, getting the Pearl back has been the main goal for Jack throughout the series. The first film follows his pursuit for the Pearl and its new Captain, Hector Barbosa, whilst the two following sequels are centered around his debt to Davy Jones, who brought the ship back from the Locker after it was destroyed. Pirates 4 saw him steal it back from Blackbeard, and Dead Men Tell No Tales ends with Jack finally reuniting with his ship once and for all. The importance of the Black Pearl to Jack is not in the ship itself, but in what it gives Jack, freedom in a world that seeks to control him. Having him once again at the helm of the ship is the perfect ending for Jack, signifying that Jack is free from his past and can move forward again.

Dead Men Tell No Tales’ ending also mimics what would have been the original ending for Jack in 2003’s Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Dead Men Tell No Tales even re-invents the famous “bring me that horizon” line, ending with Jack Sparrow saying “I have a rendezvous beyond the horizon” giving Jack the ending he was originally supposed to have. Prior to the film’s release many expected Pirates to flop like Cutthroat Island, with its mixture of horror, adventure, comedy, and romance and its theme park ride origins meaning Pirates was never expected to become a franchise, which explains the famous “horizon” line’s apparent sense of finality.