The 'Aquaman' actress claimed the wrong person served on the jury that awarded Deep a win in his defamation trial against her.
Amber Heard's request for a mistrial in the Johnny Depp defamation trial has been denied.
According to new legal documents, obtained by ET, Judge Penney S. Azcarate on Wednesday ruled there was no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing after Heard's legal team claimed that the wrong person served on the jury that unanimously decided Depp was defamed by Heard. Depp described Heard's request for a mistrial and for the judge to order a new trial as "frivolous."
ET has reached out to Heard for comment.
In the legal documents, Azcarate said Heard "was provided with the jury list five days prior to the commencement of trial and knew or should have known about the mistake at any time during the seven-week pendency of this trial." The judge added, "She had every opportunity to object to or to [speak the truth] on the issue. Parties generally must make objections at the time a ruling or order is made to put the Court on notice that an issue is meant to be preserved."
Azcarate added that both parties had an obligation to ensure the accuracy of the information provided for the jury panel, and 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 judge also said "the parties questioned the jury panel for a full day and informed the Court that the jury panel was acceptable" and, therefore, "Due Process was guaranteed and provided to all parties in this litigation."
Heard's team claimed the actress' due process was compromised when a 52-year-old man -- instead of the 77-year-old man who was summoned to jury duty -- served as a juror in the trial. Both men have the same last name and live at the same Virginia address.
"The summons issued to Juror Fifteen listed his legal name and address and no birth date was noted," the judge explained. "The court has pulled Juror Fifteen’s Jury Questionnaire. Juror Fifteen completed the Jury Questionnaire as himself filling in his proper birth date. The information presented on the Jury Questionnaire matches the information Juror Fifteen provided to the Court."
What's more, Azcarate said the 52-year-old's inclusion on the jury didn't prejudice Heard in any way because "the juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict."
The judge concluded "the only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court's instructions, and orders." And, as such, "this court is bound by the competent decision of the jury."
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