Johnny Depp's lawyer has said a claim by Amber Heard's representatives that jurors had been "tainted" by the case's publicity when reaching their verdicts is "baseless".
Benjamin Chew, who was part of the actor's legal team, said aspersions cast on juror integrity by fellow lawyer Elaine Bredehoft in a recent interview were "really disappointing" to hear.
Bredehoft made the remarks during an interview with US news programme Today shortly after verdicts were returned in the multi-million dollar defamation case.
A jury in the US state of Virginia last week found both Depp and Heard liable for defamation following a trial centred on bitterly contested allegations of domestic abuse.
Discussing Bredehoft's claim from her Today interview, Chew told Law and Crime Network: "I was really disappointed to hear that because she's a very good lawyer, very experienced.
"It seemed to cast aspersions on the jurors' integrity because, as you know, they took an oath not to watch social media and there's no reason to believe that they did.
"So to hear such a baseless claim was disappointing."
During her interview, Bredehoft also told Today there were "a number of evidentiary issues", which Chew said was "absurd".
"There are rules of evidence and both sides had evidence that were [sic] excluded for proper evidentiary reasons," he said.
Heard will "absolutely" be appealing the verdict and has "excellent grounds" to do so, Bredehoft has said.
Last week, the seven-member jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages after finding that a 2018 Washington Post article penned by Heard on the "sexual violence" she had allegedly suffered was defamatory to Depp.
The jury also found that Heard was defamed by statements made by Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail that her abuse claims were a "hoax", and awarded her $2 million in damages.
Source: Press Association, AFP
