CNN Analyst ‘Shocked and Surprised’ by Defamation Verdict: Jury ‘Rejected Amber Heard Completely’

CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said on Wednesday that he was “shocked and surprised” by the verdict that actress Amber Heard defamed actor and ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard won one defamation claim against Depp, winning $2 million in compensatory damages but nothing in punitive damages. The civil trial was the result of a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that Heard wrote where she implicated Depp without calling him out by name for domestic violence against her during their relationship.

“A major victory for Johnny Depp to be clear. Apparently the jury really absorbed, digested those statements and gave the indication that they rejected Amber Heard, I mean, completely, just about. We’ll get to her case momentarily, but this is a major victory for him,” he said. “I can say that I am very shocked and surprised by the nature of this, by the fact that the jury concluded after hearing this that she would be liable for defamatory statements for all three, reminding, $10 million is the compensatory.”

Jackson noted that “punitive damages … are designed to punish, remember the distinction. Compensatory damages are designed to make you whole, money you lost as a result of the defamatory statement. Compensatory 10 million, there’s a cap in Virginia for $350,000.” Therefore, Heard will only have to pay $350,000 to Depp in punitive damages, while paying $10 million in compensatory damages.

Watch above, via CNN.