British court throws out Johnny Depp "wife beater" appeal

Johnny Depp has met another roadblock in his journey to appeal a court ruling that he beat his ex-wife Amber Heard after a British court refused to hear the case.

Last week, the actor had filed for retrial and many who have taken interest in the case waited to hear the result along with him. This latest news is a huge blow for Depp who is trying to clear his name.

Also read: Johnny Depp awaits retrial decision on “wife beater” case

The Sun newspaper had in April 2018 published an article where it labelled Johnny Depp as a wife beater. Since then, the actor has filed a libel lawsuit against the publisher but has not gotten within an inch of victory.

His case suffered a major blow in November 2020 after High Court Justice Andrew Nicol ruled against him. Part of Nicol’s judgment was that Depp was indeed guilty of assaulting his ex-wife and thus, that the publishers were correct in using the label.

Now, two Court of Appeal judges have said that he did not have a case for retrial because his lawyers did not prove that the trial had either “error of approach” or “mistake of law”.

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The actor’s team of lawyers had argued that the major witness in the case, Amber Heard, was not a reliable witness. They cited the fact that she had not donated her $7 million divorce settlement to charity as she had claimed she would, as proof of her unreliability.

Additionally, they said that The Sun’s article has harmed his reputation and likely, his career. For example, the actor was taken out of future “Pirate of the Caribbean” films and Warner Bros. asked him to resign from the “Fantastic Beasts” films as well.

Johnny Depp is not stopping at his libel lawsuit against The Sun as he is also suing Amber Heard for $50 million over an essay she wrote about domestic abuse. This case trial is set for April 2022.