WASHINGTON (7News) — Johnny Depp made his first tour appearance in Washington, D.C. this week a little more than four months after a verdict was reached in his Fairfax County defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
Depp performed Tuesday night alongside guitarist Jeff Beck during a concert at The Anthem. The pair recently released an album and kicked off their U.S. tour. in the nation's capital.
RELATED |Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck announce new joint album, '18'
Bekka Schultz Fontanilla, known as "@casablancasgrl" on Instagram posted photos and videos from the concert.
Depp sued for $50 million in Fairfax County after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post about domestic violence in which she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”
The article never mentioned Depp by name, but his lawyers said several passages in the article defamed him by implication by referring to highly publicized abuse allegations she made in 2016 as she filed for divorce.
Heard then filed a $100 million counterclaim, also for defamation. By the time the case went to trial, her counterclaim had been whittled down to a few statements made by one of Depp’s lawyers, who called Heard’s abuse allegations a hoax.
ALSO READ |Amber Heard looks to throw out verdict in Johnny Depp's defamation trial
The jury awarded $15 million to Depp and $2 million to Heard on her counterclaim. The $15 million judgment was reduced to $10.35 million because Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000.
Among other things, Heard argued that the $10 million verdict is unsupported by the facts, and seems to demonstrate that jurors failed to focus on the fallout from the 2018 op-ed piece — as they were supposed to do — and instead just looked broadly at the damage Depp’s reputation suffered as a result of the alleged abuse.
Heard still has the ability to appeal the verdict to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
SEE MORE |Amber Heard seeks mistrial in Depp case, attorneys say juror served improperly